Miss WHAT!
by Weaselbee
Summary: Sometimes, doing the impossible is not as hard as it sounds.
1. Unexpected Visitors

A/N: Hey:) This is a new story I've had in my mind for a while now. The first chapter is very short, but I promise they get better. I have about 7 or 8 chapters already written, so expect relatively fast updates for some time.

I really appreciate reviews! I can always take suggestions:)

Chapter One: Unexpected Visitors

A skinny, brown-eyed girl sat uncomfortably in the backseat of her car. Hermione Granger looked out the window as her mother and father pulled into the driveway. She got out of the car, shut the door and slowly trudged up the steps to her small but inviting home. Each step was taken carefully- she could still feel her injuries from the Department of Mysteries.

Nevertheless, it felt so good to be back after everything that had happened at school. With the Ministry of Magic trauma, Voldemort, Umbridge, Grawp, and attempting to help Harry through the difficult times... well let's just say it had been a trying year and leave it at that.

Her parents quickly ushered her into the house, and as usual, rushed to prepare the spectacular welcome back dinner. Hermione summoned smiles for them. She loved her parents so much, they were always there for her when she needed them. She could tell them anything and knew she wouldn't be judged. Sure, they had been a little uneasy about her going to Hogwarts at first, but who wouldn't be afraid to send their only daughter into an unknown world?

Hermione walked into the kitchen and grabbed a quick snack. She retreated to the living room whilst her parents were busy cooking. She flipped on the television- something she did not often do- and surfed through the channels. When she found that nothing could claim her interest, she decided to do some unpacking.

With thoughts of ways to relax and have fun this summer vacation, Hermione walked up the stairs to her bedroom. She found a minuscule brown owl on her desk. Walking over she discovered a note from Ron tied to the owl's leg.

_Hermione_

_Hope you got home okay. I didn't think it was necessary to owl you so soon, but mum says we have to be extra careful. Owl me to tell me you got home okay, and I'll be in contact very soon. Maybe at the end of summer you can come visit, it might be safer._

_Ginny says hello._

_Ron_

Hermione smiled to herself and quickly took out a piece of parchment and a pen. She wrote a fast response and sent the tiny owl on its way.

After unpacking her trunk and placing all of her spell books neatly in their chronological order on the bookshelf, she sighed and plopped down onto the bed. Before she knew it, she was slipping into a much needed slumber.

"Hermione! Dinner's ready! Come downstairs!" Hermione's mother called.

"Alright! Just give me a minute!" Hermione answered sleepily.

She yawned and bustled into the bathroom, washing up for dinner. After brushing her hair, she chanced a look in the mirror. It's true she could not have possibly felt the extremeness of Harry's anxiety, but she too felt the effect of Sirius' death. Her face showed lines of worry, and her bushy hair framed a face so different from the last time she had looked into this mirror. Dark circles gathered under her eyes that could not be relieved by extra hours of sleep.

She walked down to the kitchen and when her parents saw her expression, a wrinkle appeared on each of their foreheads with concern.

"Hermione, dear, are you quite sure you're alright?" Her mother asked.

"Yes, I'm fine, just a little worried about my friend Harry and how he is dealing with everything..." She said.

"Well, don't worry, I'm sure your headmaster will take care of him, and no doubt Ron will collect him as soon as possible," her father assured her, "Now, let's eat before this wonderful meal gets cold!"

Hermione laughed and joined her parents at the table. Her dad could always brighten her mood. Together they prayed and immediately struck up conversation about what they had each been doing that year. Hermione explained all about her fifth year at Hogwarts. Her parents even laughed out loud when Hermione relayed the story of the Weasley twins' menacing tricks and departure from the school.

"...Professor Umbridge was flabbergasted!" She told them, forgetting her worry for the time being, "She had no control over Peeves the poltergeist after that! And the swamp was there for weeks, the teachers claimed they 'didn't know how' to get rid it! Filch, the caretaker, was livid though, he-".

Hermione's story was interrupted by a sharp rapping on the door.

"Oh hang on dear..."

"No, don't worry I'll get it." Mr. Granger said as he got up to answer the door. "I wonder who could be making a house call at this hour..."

As he disappeared from view, Hermione's mother started to tell her all about the trip to Paris they had taken while she was away. After about five minutes, Hermione's mother went to see who could possibly be keeping her husband for so long. Hermione waited patiently, absent mindedly twirling spaghetti on her fork.

'What could be going on?' Hermione wondered?

She got up and walked through the pantry to the foyer. What Hermione saw next would be engraved into her mind forever. Her parents were both lying across the floor, unmistakably dead. Their open eyes stared blankly into open space. And that was the last thing she remembered before she blacked out.


	2. Miss WHAT!

A/N: Thanks for the reviews!

I'm waiting for at least a few more reviews before I update, so please review! I need the feedback:) Thanks!

Chapter Two: Miss... WHAT!

"...what exactly do you reckon happened?..."

"...do you think she'll be alright?"

"Will you two shut up before you wake her?"

The small figure of Hermione Granger groaned. Using a lot of energy, she attempted to roll over. A wave of pain crashed over her small form.

Every person in the room was jolted out of their reveries as they heard Hermione make a distinct noise. There was a long silence in which everyone held their breath.

Just then the medi-witch, looking after Hermione, rushed into the room with several potions in her arms. Following everyone's gaze she struggled to contain her gasp as her patient struggled to move.

"Alright, all of you! You have to leave, this girl needs proper rest, you may come back later." The nurse said as she ushered them out of the room.

After having several arguments with a thin boy with untidy hair, and his gangly red-headed friend, she assured them they could return later and shut the door with a little too much force.

The middle-aged witch hurried over to Hermione, who was now slowly opening her eyes. She cast a few quick pain relieving spells and helped the girl sit up. She decided to see how far the damage had gone.

Hermione looked at her surroundings. She sat surrounded by pillows on a white bed. A window to her left seemed to be charmed to look like a warm, sunny morning. She looked down at her bandaged arm, then up to the woman fluffing her pillows. _I'm in a hospital?... This must be St. Mungo's. I wonder why I'm here... Why can't I remember why I'm here?_

"Welcome back dear," the medi-witch said warmly. "Can you tell me anything about yourself?"

A look of relief came into Hermione's eyes, but was quickly replaced with one of confusion, and then fear.

"I-I c-can't remember." She stated, and her bottom lip began to tremble. Tears sprang into her eyes.

"Shh, it's quite alright. I'm afraid to say you have been the victim of a minor memory charm." Alarm spread across Hermione's face. The witch quickly continued, "It's nothing to be worried about. You seem to have not lost the memories of the world in which you live, which is good. This charm is only temporary, your memory should return very shortly. In fact, after a good rest, I expect you will start to remember again."

Hermione still looked slightly nervous, but nodded.

"The potion I am about to give you will help recover your lost memories, and cause you to be very drowsy." She took the sleeping draft the witch gave her, and took a small sip. The taste of honey and lemon slid down her throat and she took another gulp.

Just before sinking into a light, dreamless sleep, she heard the witch whisper, "Goodnight Miss Zabini."

A sliver of light filtered through the curtains in Hermione Granger's hospital room. It ran across her eyes, and it's brightness penetrated her deep sleep.

Turning over, she felt the pain in her bruises return. No doubt the potion improved her condition dramatically, but she could still feel a slight throbbing on her back and arms.

_What happened, _She asked herself again_, Why can't I remember?_

Just then a hesitant knock was issued at the door. "Come in," she croaked.

"Hermione?..." A head of messy, raven hair was suddenly visible, closely followed by flaming red hair. The two boys rushed over to her and threw her into a tight embrace. Confusion dawned upon her face. _Who are these people?..._ she thought, as her visitors bombarded her with questions that she didn't know the answers to.

Suddenly something strange happened, she felt a sharp pain suddenly warp her thoughts. Then it hit her...

"Harry!" Memories of her two best friends flooded her mind as she finally hugged them both back with extreme relief plastered on her face. "Ron!"

They looked surprised at her outburst, but smiled warmly. Tears blurred her vision as she remembered. "Oh I am so glad I can remember you! I- I don't know what happened to me..." she drifted off.

The two boys exchanged a glance that Hermione didn't notice.

"It's okay 'Mione, let's just talk, the nurse said that would help you get your memories back faster." Harry said.

Hermione temporarily forgot her newfound worries as she chatted away with her two favorite people. "Ron honestly, just take them, you know I won't eat them!" Hermione exclaimed, as she caught Ron eyeing her chocolate frogs again.

"Thanks Hermione!" Ron said, through an already full mouth of frogs. Hermione giggled, and Harry rolled his eyes. An awkward silence followed and Harry's expression became grave.

"Hermione, we were so worried, Dumbledore said he couldn't tell us any more than..."

"Than what Harry?" she asked.

Harry suddenly became extremely interested in the floor tiles.

"What is it Harry!"

"...he said that you and your family were attacked by a group of death eaters..." Harry looked sad, but understanding.

The words hit Hermione like a bag of bricks. She raked her mind for memories of these occurrences. A picture of her house as she got out of the car... her parents laughing at dinner... the doorbell ringing...

"Oh my God. My parents, where are my parents!" She struggled out of the tangle of sheets.

"'Mione... I'm sorry... they, they didn't make it..." Harry trailed off. Ron stopped eating chocolate and looked to her, tears threatening.

Hermione collapsed on the floor, choking with sobs. _How could this have happened, this wasn't supposed to happen, she wasn't supposed to be the one targeted, and not so soon..._

The medi-witch burst through the door. "Oh my dear! What happened? Are you alright?" The witch tried to check Hermione lifting Harry and Ron's arms off of her as she did so. "I'm sorry boys, you'll have to come back later."

"Please, come on, we haven't been able to see her for hours..."

"I'm sorry, she's been through too much right now, she has just discovered her memories."

Harry and Ron reluctantly made their way to the door. Hermione saw Harry whisper a quick conversation with the witch in which only the words "found...parents...gone..." were noticeable. This only made her cry harder.

The medi-witch gave her a calming drought, and helped her settle in the bed.

"You should get some rest, I'll be back to check on you later." Hermione could only nod her head slightly.

"You'll be alright Miss Zabini, you really will, I promise..." The witch said to her before she went over to the door.

Something clicked abruptly in Hermione's mind. "Wait... what did you just call me?"

"Miss... Zabini?" The witch questioned, no longer sure.

"Miss... _WHAT_!"


	3. Explanation

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter Three: I Believe I Owe You an Explanation

It wasn't like Hermione to freak out. But this was an exception. All of the control was lost within those four syllables.

"Miss Zabini, is there something wrong?" the witch asked her. She seemed genuinely worried, but Hermione was too furious to notice the concern lacing her words.

"Why are you calling me that? My name is Hermione Jane Granger!" She desperately claimed.

"But Miss Zabini-" she attempted.

Hermione interrupted, "STOP! Stop calling me that! It's not my name! There must be a mistake!"

"I'm afraid there is no mistake, you see when we first found you, we didn't know your identity. You needed immediate attention, so we performed an Identification Charm... That's where you-"

"I know what it is! Do it again! It's not possible!" She shrieked, as she struggled to remove the sheets.

She practically fell out of the bed and stumbled towards the door. Her bare feet pounded on the stone-cold floor. The nurse ran towards her to slow her exit.

"DON'T TOUCH ME! SOMEBODY, HELP!"

Hermione, seeing she wasn't getting out the door, ran back to her bed. She grabbed the food tray, ignoring the leftovers that fell to the floor and splattered. She wasn't sure what her next course of action would be, but she didn't understand... this nurse was confusing her with someone else, something was very wrong...

Before she had a chance to do anything the door clicked open and Albus Dumbledore stepped into the hospital room.

"Ah, Miss Zabini, I see you are not taking the news well... I didn't expect you to gain your memory back so soon, regardless, I believe I owe you an explanation..." Dumbledore said, an odd twinkle filling his blue eyes. It seemed as though he thought the situation was amusing.

"The hell you owe me an explanation! Tell this nurse that I'm Hermione!" She clapped a hand to her mouth, looking guilty for cursing at a professor.

"I'm afraid I cannot do that," he said in a calm voice as he motioned for the nurse to leave, "Okay, I suppose I should begin with what happened the other day. A few select Death Eaters arrived at your home. There were Aurors on guard in the vicinity. They got to your front door just after Bellatrix Lestrange cast a slight memory charm on you, and you blacked out. Lestrange is currently being held in Azkaban, however, how long she will remain there is yet to be observed." Hermione noticed he seemed to be skirting around the topic of her parents.

"Upon arriving at St. Mungo's, an Identification charm was placed on you, for the Healers were unaware of your name. I, myself, was rather surprised to find out that the name Hermione Emily Zabini was the name marked out for you."

Hermione's eyes were wide with shock, and she was too stunned to speak, or even argue with Dumbledore.

He continued, "You see, it was at this time that I remembered an article in the Daily Prophet, approximately 15 years ago. It so happens that you were kidnapped as a small child, and I am assuming somehow landed in the Muggle world. The Grangers adopted you, and you grew up, got your letter to Hogwarts, thinking you were a Muggleborn, when in fact, you are a pureblood."

A tear slowly made its way down her cheek, and her mind was suddenly filled with Malfoy's taunts and Muggleborn discrimination. _I can't believe after all this time I'm a pureblood. No one will never believe it..._

"I suppose you're wondering about your real family. The Zabinis are a lovely couple, and quite wealthy, I must say. They have a son, Blaise, whom you may know from school. He is your older brother, by 6 minutes. I'm afraid I should warn you that the Zabinis are family friends with the Malfoys, but you need not worry, the Zabinis are not Death Eaters, but nor do they support Harry and the Order. They are in a neutral position I believe.

"I have already contacted your new family. I must encourage you to at least try living at the Zabini mansion; they were shocked, but elated to be reunited with you. You can imagine the suffering of losing their child so young. The burrow is extremely packed, and there really wouldn't be a suitable adult at Headquarters at all times. They will be here to collect you in 2 days, and I believe you will soon have visitors so I will be going. Good luck, and I will see you at Hogwarts in a month or so."

With that, Dumbledore hurried from the room, leaving Hermione speechless. He had begun speaking so quickly, that she couldn't have gotten a word in if she tried. It seemed as though there was something he didn't want to tell her. She didn't even know what to think. A new family? A new home? A brother? There was too much information, and way too fast.

Two days! What will Harry and Ron think? Friends with the Malfoy's? Well, if she was ever forced to communicate with them she would be extremely miserable.

Hermione felt a headache threatening her thoughts, so she lay down awkwardly on the bed and fell into a fitful sleep.

Hermione awoke to a loud knocking on the door. Her head throbbed terribly, and the whiteness of the room was killing her eyes. She grabbed a pillow and threw it over her head, intent on forgetting her slowly- no, quickly- deteriorating life.

"HERMIONE!" "We know you're in there! OPEN UP!" "Come on Hermione!"

Recognizing the voices of her two best friends and her other best friend Ginny, she reluctantly slumped over to the door and lazily opened it, quickly returning to the confines of her warm covers, where the world was so much less complicated.

"Hermione, I'm so sorry about your family..." Ginny said slowly, Hermione looked up.

"Which one?" she replied. Neither Ginny nor Harry seemed to know a good response to this question.

Ron on the other hand was fuming. "I can't believe this! All this time..." he drifted off, staring angrily at a floor tile as if it had personally insulted him.

"We couldn't believe our ears when Dumbledore told us you were a pureblood, and to top it off a _Zabini_..." he muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'and friends with the Malfoys!' before he continued "...we thought he was playing a cruel joke."

"I was quite surprised myself, if you can imagine. I don't know what to think anymore." Hermione said sadly, her voice cracking from crying so much in the past few days.

"Well, Hermione, you know we'll always be here for you, and in a few weeks school starts, and you'll be with us again." Ginny smiled.

Harry and a still angry looking Ron nodded in approval. She smiled.

"I suppose if I have the support of my friends, it won't be so bad. I should stop sulking, so many people have it worse off than I do." Hermione stated.

"Yeah, like House Elves." Ron snickered. He quickly quieted with a glare from Ginny.

She ignored him, "It's just all so sudden, a few hours ago, I was an orphan, and now, I have two parents _and_ a brother."

"So, how do you think Blaise took the news? I mean he is like, best friends with Malfoy, and he's a _Slytherin_. I guess they have no reason to hate you anymore though, besides the fact that you're friends with me." Harry said quickly.

"I don't know. I've never had any siblings before, I don't know how to act. It's going to be really awkward."

"Take it from me, having brothers is not all it's cracked up to be," Ginny threw a disgusted glance at Ron, who had relocated himself to the end of the bed and was now stuffing his face with sweets. "But when it all comes down to it, having a brother is really great. So, don't worry, I'm sure you'll be fine."

A small silence followed, and Hermione took this opportunity to examine each of her friends. Ron and Ginny seemed a little flustered, but otherwise looked outwardly okay. Harry, on the other hand, was getting more and more pale, and he had developed dark circles under his eyes. He also looked like he hadn't had a decent meal in days. She guessed he had been having trouble sleeping since the death of his Godfather. She at least hoped he was not purposely skipping meals and sleep.

She was about to tell him that he had better start taking care of himself, when Harry started to speak.

"We had better be going, visiting hours are almost over and that Healer isn't too fond of us after our last visit. Oh yeah, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley say hello, they really wanted to come, but the Order is working overtime now, you know how it is..."

"Send us an owl after you arrive, and let us know everything going on. Maybe after you get to know them we can come visit." Ginny added.

"Just make sure you don't arrange a time when the Malfoys are visiting as well." Ron said. "Be careful around them. Even though Lucius is in Azkaban for now, they're still not nice people."

Hermione and Harry looked at Ron curiously. Had Ron just said something- smart?

She shook it off and gave them each a long hug.

"Don't worry I can take care of myself. Be sure to owl me if anything important happens." She switched into Hermione-mode. "Oh, and Harry and Ron be sure to do your homework, and if anything odd happens, make sure you tell someone immediately-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bye Hermione!" Ron yelled on his way out the door.

"Good luck!" Harry added.

"You'll be fine Hermione, I know it." Ginny smiled, and hurried to join her brother and Harry in the hallway.

Hermione let out a sigh she didn't know she was holding in. _Okay, tomorrow, my new family is coming. I hope they like me, Merlin, I hope they like me..._

Pleaseee review:)


	4. The Zabinis

A/N: This is an extremely short chapter, and I'm sorry. I wanted to take a whole chapter to introduce her family, but there isn't much to say that won't be answered later. Hope you like it and happy reading:)

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter four: The Zabinis

Hermione sat stiffly in a chair in front of the mirror in her hospital bedroom. She was frustratingly trying to tame her bushy hair.

_God Hermione, what is wrong with you? You've never cared about appearances before! Quit kidding yourself!_ She thought to herself.

To put it simply, Hermione was nervous- no, she was panicking. A new family. She wanted to make a good impression, but at the same time she wanted to be herself and hope they liked her for it.

She quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and a nice black sweater that Mrs. Weasley and Ginny had brought for her early that morning. Harry and Ron had come too, for moral support. It was an unscheduled stop apparently and they didn't stay long. They whispered encouraging words, but then left her to have time alone before the Zabinis came to get her.

Ginny had told her they would like her no matter what, but Hermione was skeptical. These were purebloods. The friends of the very people who hated her every fiber for being Muggleborn. Well, not anymore.

"I have wizard parents now," she thought aloud. But as soon as she said this she regretted it. She missed her other parents terribly. Sure, they weren't her biological parents, but they had taken care of her for 15 years. Surely that counted for something?

"No," Hermione told herself. "I will not think about my parents today." She had made a promise to herself, not to think about them today. Her eyes burned with tears, and she hastily brushed them away. She wanted to seem strong and secure on the outside, as much as the pain tore at her from the inside.

She pushed them from her mind and returned to struggling with her bushy hair. She brushed at it from every angle, but finally decided it wasn't going to improve anymore.

"This is as good as it's gonna get."

A few hours later found Hermione sitting on the edge of a chair as if it were on fire. This was the fifth place she had tried sitting. She had never been this nervous before. Reading, her favorite thing, was doing nothing to calm her down. If anything, the reports on Voldemort in the _Daily Prophet_ made her more nervous and apprehensive.

_Deep breaths_, she thought.

An hour or two later, three very sharp knocks on the door threw her out of her thoughts. She jumped up and straightened her outfit. She tried to stride casually over to the door.

_Here goes nothing._

Hermione pulled the knob and swung the door gently open. A tall woman with dark brown, almost black hair and bright blue eyes stood next to an even taller man with the same color hair. The woman had tears in her eyes, and she was surprised to see the man did too.

There was an awkward pause before the woman embraced her tightly. Hermione tried not to cry, she didn't even know these people and she was already tearing up. She pulled away and the man gave her a quick hug as well.

"Nice to meet you... Mrs. Zabini..." Hermione got out somewhat difficultly.

"Oh! No, please call us Mum and Dad, it may seem awkward now but it only makes sense." Her mother stated. Her father nodded. It was at this time that she noticed Blaise sulking with his arms crossed, in the doorway. His dark hair fell elegantly over his stunning blue eyes, just like his parents'. She offered him a small smile, which he seemed to accept, but he only looked at her suspiciously in return.

She turned back to her parents, her father had his arm around her mother, and they both had tears in their eyes.

"So, do you want to see your new home?" her father asked.

"Uh.. Sure, let me just pack my things..."

"Don't be silly," her mother said with a warm smile. With a flick of her wand, everything was packed in the suitcase.

"You've traveled by floo before, of course?" her father asked her.

"Yes."

"Okay then, we'll leave by the floo network downstairs." With that, they led her out of the room, with their arms around her, Blaise lagging behind. They finally reached a large room, several stories down, with fireplaces all along the walls.

"We'll go first, and you can follow. Blaise, dear, make sure she makes it through okay."

"Yes, mum." he drawled. Her parents shouted 'Zabini Manor!' and flickered out of sight. An awkward silence followed with just the two of them standing there. She went to step into the fireplace too, when she felt a hand grab her left arm.

"You better watch it Granger, I am not playing any stupid games. Draco is coming to stay for a couple days next week, and I don't want you around, he doesn't know about this yet. I don't think he'd take it well."

"My name isn't Granger, you can't call me that anymore." She responded strongly.

"You're right. Watch it, _Hermione_." With that he shoved her into the fireplace, and she hesitated before yelling 'Zabini Manor!'.


	5. Zabini Manor

A/N: Okay, a few of you were concerned with the fact that Blaise is being mean. Well, it won't stay that way for long. He's just acting this way because first, he's a Slytherin. They normally aren't exactly friendly with Gryffindors, even if she is his sister, and he just met Hermione. Second, Draco is his best friend, and Draco and Hermione don't exactly get along. And third, it didn't seem in character to have Blaise suddenly be friendly with her. Be patient, things will change!

Also, I just chose Blaise for this story, and not another Slytherin, because we don't know that much about him. Most of the other Slytherins have parents that we know to be Death Eaters, and I didn't want her new parents to be on Voldemort's side. In addition, I _have_ read HBP and I know that Blaise was pronounced to be black, but I started writing this story before the new book came out. And, I think in an earlier chapter Dumbledore said that Blaise was her older brother by a few minutes, so that would make them twins, even though I didn't directly say that. Hope this clears a few things up:)

Please read and review!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter five: Zabini Manor

In a flurry of dust and soot, Hermione landed roughly on the floor of a large fireplace. Her father straightened her up, and brushed the soot off of her clothes. Seconds later, her 'brother' arrived, brushed himself off, and strode out of the room.

"Welcome to Zabini Manor!"

She took this time to examine her surroundings. It seemed as though they were in a large living room of some sort. There was a large, black grand piano in one corner, and the tall windows covered the walls. There was a dark, wood floor, and several oriental rugs were placed under various pieces of furniture. There were at least 10 large couches, and about 5 doors. Her parents guided her through the one that Blaise had exited through.

It turned out to be a large foyer. A grand staircase was placed in the middle, with stairs leading left and right.

"This is the entrance hall. The room we just left is the living room. We can give you a tour of the house if you like, before dinner. It may take awhile to get accustomed to the halls and rooms. If you ever get lost, yell for help, and either myself, your father, Blaise, or a house elf will guide you to your destination."

Hermione frowned to herself. She didn't want to bring up house elf rights now, of all times, after all she had given up on S.P.E.W. after the accident at the end of 5th year. However, she still felt a pang of guilt, knowing they probably cleaned this house, and prepared meals for her now.

Her mother and father guided her through all seven floors of the house. There were several bathrooms, a drawing room, a library (which got her very excited), and several guest rooms. Hermione was even surprised to see a room labeled 'Draco Malfoy'. At her questioning look, her father explained that young Draco came to visit very often, and so they designed a room for him.

"Now, we can show you your room. It is on the floor above ours, but on the same floor as Blaise and Draco. I understand you don't get along with Draco, but Blaise and him have been friends for a long time, so I hope you can learn to get along," Her mother said with a hopeful smile. Hermione did her best to smile in return.

They entered a new hall, in which several doors had the name Hermione on them in gold cursive. Her father led her into each room, showing Hermione her own private study, a small sitting room, an entertainment room, a bathroom, and finally, her room, which was connected to the bathroom.

They left the lovely white marble bathroom, and entered her room, or rather, her house. It was the biggest room she had ever seen. A kind sized bed with dark blue velvet comforters and silk sheets sat in the middle of two large windows. There was also some kind of drawing in the middle of one of the pillows, which Hermione guessed was the Zabini family crest. A new vanity table was set off to once side. A petite kitchenette stood in a far alcove, complete with mini fridge and bar with stools. There were several chairs and couches around a coffee table in the middle of the room. A wardrobe took up most of one corner.

Her mouth must have dropped open at the site, because her mother laughed lightly.

"Do you like it?" she asked anxiously. "Like it," Hermione began, "I love it! Thank you so much for everything."

"It's no problem, really. We have something else to show you." Her father led her over the coffee table which she now noticed had an album sitting in the center of it. "This is your baby photo album," her father said, "before, you were... kidnapped."

Hermione sat down in between her parents and opened the cover. It said in sparkling letters, 'To Our Dear Hermione...' She had to fight to hold back the tears burning her eyes as she looked over the moving pictures of her and her family. She turned the page and found more pictures, but mostly of her and Blaise. They were both sitting in a stroller together, laughing and playing with one another. Hermione frowned at the picture.

Her father must have seen what she was looking at, because he answered the question she was thinking since they left the hospital. "You have to excuse Blaise. He's been an only child for many years, it's hard for him seeing his baby sister return. He'll come around, he's stubborn, but you'll see the real him soon." He gave an encouraging smile before closing the album and placing it back on the table.

"Well, I suppose you may want to rest and unpack before dinner, so we'll leave you alone for a bit. You have had a rough day." Her father said.

Hermione nodded and waited for her parents to leave before unpacking some of her things. She then flopped onto her huge bed and was surprised to see twinkling stars in the blue canopy. She stared at them for awhile, many thoughts running through her mind, before drifting off to sleep.

Hermione awoke to a timid prodding in her lower back. She turned over to find to large green eyes staring back at her. She jumped back in surprise, before realizing it was a house elf.

"I is s-sorry for dis-disturbing you Miss, but Blinkie was asked to escort Miss Hermione to dinner soon," the small elf said.

"Oh, no, it's ok, I am just new to this house is all... May I ask your name?" Hermione said politely.

"My- my name?" the house elf questioned. She obviously wasn't used to a master being this kind. "My name is Blinkie, your own house elf for this wing."

"Hello Blinkie. It's nice to meet you. Do you mind, er, showing me the way down to dinner?"

"Not at all Miss Hermione. Follow Blinkie, she is knowing the way!" Hermione laughed at the elf's sudden cheeriness. She stood up and straightened her clothes, before exiting her new bedroom.

On the way to the dining room, they passed many strange corridors. Hermione made a mental note to examine them later. What she became most interested in however, were the portraits. There were portraits dating back at least a hundred years in one of the hallways. They must have all been Zabinis, because they all had shining dark brown, almost black hair, and startling blue eyes. Finally they reached the main floor, and made several turns until they entered a large dining hall.

The ceiling was nearly as tall as Hogwarts, and was enchanted to look like the night sky. There was a very large, rather long table in the center, and several china cabinets filled with crystals along the walls. Her mother, father, and Blaise were sitting at the far end.

Hermione timidly walked over to them. "Please, take a seat," her father said, motioning to the chair between Blaise and her mother. Hermione smiled and sat down on the soft blue chair.

They ate a wonderful meal, mostly in comfortable silence. Hermione had never tasted food so good. Granted it was probably prepared by house elves, she had no trouble enjoying it all.

Just as they were finishing up, Blaise spoke up. "Mum, Draco is coming to visit in two days." He wasn't asking if he could come, he was stating the facts.

"Alright dear. Just make sure him and your sister get along." Their mother said. Blaise threw a meaningful look Hermione's way, before asking to be excused.

"In one minute dear. We want to have a family discussion, now that we're all together. Hermione, darling, is there anything you wish to know about your family, any questions?"

It took Hermione a second to realize that her mother was talking to her, she was preoccupied with thoughts of Blaise. "Oh...um... yes, actually... On my way, er, down here, I noticed some portraits. I was wondering, um, if there was a reason I, er, look so much different..."

Hermione usually never stuttered or mumbled, but she felt very uncomfortable asking this question. Her mother and father exchanged glances, and even Blaise looked uncomfortable, staring down at his plate as though it had asked him a difficult question.

"Well," her father began, "We ourselves only just discovered this answer. It seems as though your kidnappers were not too eager for you to be discovered, and that whoever they may be placed a sort of concealment charm on you. That way, you would not be recognized by the obvious Zabini traits."

"We didn't want to burden you too much," her mother continued, " We were going to tell you soon. However, you have a choice. We can remove the charm, or you can choose to stay the same. Whatever you want, we respect that decision."

How could she have looked like this for so long and not known she was secretly different? Hermione was someone who did not like to be phony. She loved facts and plain, obvious answers. Perhaps that is what led her to her next plan of action.

"I want the charm removed." Hermione stated.

Her mother and father looked clearly pleased. Blaise's features were unreadable, but she thought she saw a very small smile, before it was replaced with a blank expression.

"Okay," her father began, "This will only take one second." He retrieved his wand from inside his robes and muttered a very long spell that Hermione had never heard before. She felt a warm, fuzzy, feeling engulf her body, as if all of her limbs had just fallen asleep and were being forced to move.

"There, the look of a true Zabini," Her mother smiled. Hermione missed everyone else's expressions because her mother then continued quickly, "Well, it's late, dinner started later than usual. Hermione you may want some time to yourself, to send owls to your friends and get settled or whatnot. We think that tomorrow may be suitable. There is sufficient food in your kitchenette, but we will be expecting you for dinner tomorrow night. You are both excused, goodnight." Her mother gave them each a hug and then Hermione followed Blaise out of the room.

When they both reached their floor, Blaise turned to Hermione, "Remember what I told you about Draco." Then he waltzed into his room and slammed the door. Hermione didn't let it get to her. She shrugged and then continued to her own quarters.

Inside, she made a beeline for the mirror. She took a deep breath and then looked in. What she saw surprised her so much that she gasped.

A slightly taller girl looked back at her through the reflection. It was not Hermione Granger, but Hermione Zabini. She now had very long dark brown, almost black hair, that fell halfway down her back. She had lightly tanned skin and bright blue eyes with long eyelashes.

Exhausted, she changed into a t-shirt and shorts and laid down in her warm bed. She thought over the day and wondered how she could have been so nervous. It had been one of the happiest, best days of her entire life.

Hermione awoke the next day more comfortable than she had ever felt in her entire life. The room had become chilly over night, but it seemed as though Blinkie had lit a fire for her, and then room was now nice and toasty.

Sighing, she got up and put on some slippers. It was already past lunch, she must have been extremely tired last night. She went into the kitchenette, and opened the fridge. There being sufficient food was an understatement. The fridge was enchanted to have the same amount of room that a normal refrigerator had. Anything she could have imagined could be found. Being extremely hungry, she finally decided on making a sandwich and some soup. She curled up on the couch, near the fire, and mulled her new life over.

After she finished eating, she decided to send some letters to her friends. She began with Ginny.

_Ginny-_

_There is so much to tell you! My new family is so nice. I can't wait to tell you about my new home! I even have my own library! Blaise was a little unfriendly, as expected, but my parents were lovely! Unfortunately Malfoy is coming to visit soon, I hope to avoid him. I am hoping to tell you the rest if you can come visit soon, I'm going to ask my parents at dinner tonight. I hope everyone is safe, and that everything is going well with the you-know-what. I'll contact you later on plans._

_Love-_

_Hermione_

Putting that letter aside, and figuring Harry was probably with the Weasley's by now, she decided to write a letter to Ron and Harry.

_Ron and I'm assuming, Harry-_

_I've missed you guys so much! I hope you can come visit soon. I think my family might let me, my parents are very nice. Blaise seems a little indifferent towards me, but it's nothing to be worried about, I'm sure it's just because Malfoy is visiting soon. Don't worry about that either, he doesn't know it's me yet, and I don't think he would dare hurt me now. I'll contact you guys later with plans._

_Love-_

_Hermione_

Satisfied with this, she realized she didn't have an owl to send them by. She opened the door, and started down the corridor, hoping to find an owlery. She had just decided to turn around and send the letters later, when she turned a corner and ran straight into someone.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going!" She said hastily. She looked up into the blue eyes of her brother. He quirked an eyebrow at her. There was a long silence before he extended his hand to help her up. Slightly surprised, she took it and stood up.

"Thank you..." she began, and brushed herself off. It was then that she noticed that he held a letter in his left hand. "I was wondering, er, if you could help me find the owlery."

"Yeah, sure," he replied lazily. Without waiting for a reply, he swept past her and made a sharp left. He followed the hallway to a staircase, and led her up two flights of stairs. At the top, she found herself in an unfamiliar area. Blaise continued through a door marked 'Owlery'. He stepped inside, and she followed.

Inside, there were perches for several owls. There was a specific section marked 'Hermione'. By the time she got there, Blaise was already finished tying his letter to a brown raven owl. He headed out the door without a look back. Hermione got the distinct feeling that if he hadn't been on his way to the owlery anyway, he probably wouldn't have helped her find it.

"Thanks anyway, I can find my way back alone," Hermione said to herself sarcastically. She found a nice tawny owl in her section and tied the scrolls to the owls leg. "Take these to Ginny and Ron."

On the way back to her wing of the house, Hermione contemplated how nice it was to spend the summer in a magical home. It was certainly more efficient. This got her thinking about her other parents. Immediately she felt a twinge of guilt, and her eyes burned with tears. She shook her head, _No, they would want me to be happy, and I don't want my new family to feel bad._

Reaching her room, she decided to get started on her schoolwork. About two hours later, Hermione realized she would be expected for dinner in half an hour. Panicking, she jumped in the shower. She pulled her hair into a towel and put on a bathrobe. Opening her wardrobe, she found a bunch of new clothes in addition to her old ones. She chose a nice pair of pants and a dark green shirt. Unfolding her hair, she found it almost completely dry, and silky smooth. It was quite a difference from the usual. Taking one last quick look in the mirror, she ran out of the room.

The walk downstairs took less time, even though she was almost lost before she found the grand staircase. Upon entering the dining room, she found she had arrived before Blaise. She took a seat at the table.

"I hope you had a nice day dear," her mother smiled warmly.

"Yes, I did, thank you. I worked on some schoolwork and sent some letters to my friends," she answered.

"Oh, that reminds me," her father began," Since Blaise is having Draco over, did you want to invite any of your own friends over? Dumbledore says you're quite good friends with young Harry Potter."

"Oh, well actually... I was wondering if I could invite Harry, and my friends Ron and Ginny over, just for the day."

"Of course," her mother replied. "Blinkie!" she called. _Pop!_

"Yes Miss Zabini?" the elf questioned as she appeared out of thin air.

"Please send Hermione's friends invites for the day tomorrow."

"Of course." _Pop!_

"Thank you," Hermione said.

"No problem- Ah! Here you are Blaise. We've been waiting for you. I assume you've made plans with Draco?" her father inquired.

"Yeah, him and Aunt Narcissa are arriving in time for lunch tomorrow."

"Excellent! Hermione's friends Harry, Ron, and Ginny will be arriving shortly after lunch."

Blaise choked on his chicken. "What!"

"Hermione's friends are coming to visit for the day." her mother said nonchalantly, seeing nothing wrong with the situation.

"Oh, well, well that's- good," Blaise said, clearly unhappy.

"So, Hermione, tell us about your life at Hogwarts. I've heard of your many adventures, and you seem like a very intelligent young lady," her father said.

"Well," she began, "I'm in Gryffindor, and I'm a Prefect. I'm taking Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. They're my favorite subjects."

"Oh! How lovely! A prefect! Did you know Draco is a prefect?" her mother asked.

"Y-yes. I've heard that," she answered. Blaise smirked at his water goblet.

"If you'll excuse your mother and I, we have some important business to attend to. We'll see you both tomorrow at breakfast." With that, they apparated, leaving Hermione alone with Blaise.

"So, your stupid friends are coming over. Just be sure to keep them away from Draco, I don't think he'd be too pleased."

"Won't we all have to eat dinner together anyway?" Hermione replied.

Blaise sighed. "Let's delay the inevitable Hermione." With that he strolled out of the room. Thinking about what he had just said to her, she finally got up and returned to her room for the night.

The next morning, Hermione took another shower and dressed in jeans and a collared t-shirt. She hurried down to the dining room. After an uneventful breakfast, she returned to her room and finished her schoolwork.

She had just finished unpacking her things and getting ready for lunch when she heard the doorbell ring, several floors below. She decided it must be charmed to be able to hear all throughout the house.

"Blaise! Hermione! The Malfoys are here! Time for lunch!" Swallowing all of her fears, Hermione headed downstairs.


	6. The Malfoys

A/N: Thanks to all my great reviewers! Happy reading:)

Please read and review!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter six: The Malfoys

Hermione took a leisurely pace entering the area where she knew Mrs. Malfoy and Malfoy would be entering. Sure enough, when she was on her way down the big staircase, Blaise and Draco came in from the living room, headed to lunch. Narcissa and Hermione's mother followed close after, chatting away easily.

"Oh!" Narcissa cried, when she saw Hermione. "You must be Hermione! I've heard so much about you! Last time I saw you, you were just a baby! You certainly are the spitting image of Blaise, don't you think Draco!"

Hermione winced when she heard her name. Draco didn't seem to notice thank God. She had only seen Mrs. Malfoy once, but she had never pictured her so ecstatic, she figured it was because Lucius Malfoy was not present. She allowed herself to be hugged during Mrs. Malfoy's rant.

When addressed, Draco simply looked over at her, then at Blaise, and consequently smirked.

Narcissa seemed to think this was adequate and they all filed into the dining room, where food was already served. Today, Hermione sat across from Blaise, and next to her mother. Lunch went more smoothly than she thought, and to her luck, no questions were answered that would give away her identity. She quietly listened to the conversation and excused herself, to prepare her rooms for her friends.

After she left, she heard Draco and Blaise leave, talking about something in hushed tones. Just as she reached her room, she saw them enter Blaise's room and lock the door.

Hermione spent the rest of the afternoon reading, and around four, her mother appeared out of the fireplace.

"Hello dear, your friends should be arriving soon. If they're arriving by floo, we should go wait in the living room. I must say, Narcissa really liked you, couldn't get over how much you resembled us," she said.

Hermione smiled and they returned downstairs by floo. No sooner had she sat in a chair by the fireplace, than she noticed a flash of red hair.

"Ginny!" Hermione ran over and hugged her friend.

"Um... hey, is Hermione here?"

"Ginny it's me!" then she lowered her voice so only Ginny could hear, "I'll explain later." Ginny nodded.

"Harry and Ron should be here any minute, Harry was a bit hesitant to travel by floo powder," Ginny told her with a smirk on her face.

Hermione laughed lightly, before Harry tumbled out of the fireplace. Shortly after, Ron appeared.

"Sorry we're so late, Harry was a little apprehensive..." Ron started, "Ginny, where is Hermione?"

"Hi guys, it's me," Hermione smiled.

"Hermione?...Well... Wow! You look great!" Harry hugged her, and then Ron hugged her.

"Here, meet my mom," Hermione said, "Mom, this is Harry Potter, and Ron and Ginny Weasley."

"It's so nice to meet you all. Hermione talks about you all so much," her mother smiled, "Well, I'm sure you all have so much to catch up on, and I really must be going anyway, I'll see you at dinner dear." With that she apparated away. There was a long silence after the small _Pop!_ sounded around the room.

"Hermione... Why do you look different?" Harry asked finally. Hermione averted her eyes and sighed.

"Well, it turns out I was put under a concealment charm for some reason. I was wondering why I looked so different, so I asked my parents. They gave me the choice of staying the same or removing the charm. I didn't want to be fake, so I opted to remove it." Hermione looked up at her friends hesitantly.

"Well I think it looks great," Ginny said. She looked towards Ron and Harry.

"Me too," Ron finally added. "Definitely suits you," Harry said. Hermione brightened.

"Well, I suppose I'll give you a tour! Come on."

Seven floors later, Hermione and her friends were headed back to her room.

"Well, Hermione, I think it's safe to say your quite well off," Ron stated.

"Yes, Ronald, I suppose so," she said. She was a little embarrassed to show her fortune to the Weasleys.

They passed Blaise's room, where there was a faint glowing light showing from under the door. No sounds were being emitted and she figured there was probably a charm on it.

"What's in there?" Harry questioned.

"Oh... well that's Blaise's room- or, one of Blaise's rooms. Draco is visiting for a few days," Hermione informed them.

"Draco!" Ron asked.

"My mother asked me to call him that, he's a family friend."

"So we have to like, eat with that?" Harry asked.

"With _him_, and yes, but I'm sure it will be fine," she said uncertainly. "He doesn't know who I am, or was, yet."

"As soon as he sees us, I'm sure he'll figure it out Hermione," Ginny added.

"Yes, that's what I'm afraid of."

A couple hours later, Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Ginny were sitting in the kitchenette, drinking butterbeer. They were taking a break from the exciting afternoon thus far. Harry and Ron, had played with her brand new wizard's chess set, while Ginny and herself looked at her pictures. They did many other things, and had a fun, carefree time together. It was a great break from the real world.

Hermione was about to take another sip of her drink, when she heard a tapping at the window. She ran into her room and saw a small brown owl sitting outside. She opened the window and retrieved the scroll. Before she could give the owl a treat, he flew off.

"Ooh!" she shrieked, and her friends ran into the room. "My O.W.L. results!"

"Yeah, we got ours a few days ago, maybe they had a rough time finding you," Harry said, as Hermione ripped the parchment open.

A huge smile spread across her face as she read it.

"Let me guess... all O's?" Ron asked.

"Yes, and also my Hogwarts letter is here. I'm supposed to send this second copy of my results back with the classes I want to take so they can send my required list. How did you guys do?"

"I got all O's, except for an E in History of Magic, because I was, er, you know, distracted, and an A in Divination. Ron got a couple less O's than me," Harry said. Hermione remembered that Voldemort had tapped into Harry's mind during the History of Magic exam.

"So what do you want to be Hermione?" Ginny inquired.

"I think I want to be an Auror..."

"Excellent! That's what I'm gonna be!" Harry exclaimed.

Hermione sent her list off, and they enjoyed some more time together. _Pop!_ Hermione turned around and saw Blinkie standing there.

"Blinkie is to tell Miss Hermione that dinner is ready!"

"Okay, thanks Blinkie!"

"Wow, you're not freaking out about house elves?" Ron smirked.

"No, I've decided they're fine with their lives, and I didn't want to make a bad impression with my family."

"Well, let's go then. The sooner we have dinner with the ferret, the sooner we can take a shower," Harry said.

They all laughed and headed into the hall.

"Oh! Just wait here, I have to go get my test scores to show my parents." Hermione ran back into her room quickly.

In the hall.

Harry leaned up against the wall, and just then the door to Blaise's room a little ways down opened.

Draco and Blaise stepped into the hall. They immediately noticed the three visitors near the stairs. There was a long, awkward silence. No one moved.

Malfoy broke the silence.

"Haha. Very funny Blaise, they really do look real too," he said, while walking over and poking Harry.

"Ow! You stupid Ferret! I am real!" Harry exclaimed. Draco jumped backwards.

"Jesus! What the hell! Why is Pothead and the Weasels in your house Blaise!"

"Oh, uh..." he stammered, "Well, they're my sister's friends actually..."

"But Scarhead doesn't have any friends except for these guys and- wait... don't tell me..."

At that exact moment, Hermione strode into the hallway, running her eyes over her copy of her test scores.

"Hey guys, do you think they'd let me take an extra course?" she asked, without noticing the extra people in the hall.

"Mudblood!" Hermione stopped in her tracks. She would know that obnoxious drawl anywhere.

Blaise laughed uneasily. "Draco Malfoy, meet Hermione Zabini."


	7. Dinner and Diagon Alley

A/N: I was postponing updating this story, because when I added the next chapter, I wanted to have more chapters finished so I could update them faster. But, when I realized my progress was not going too well, I decided you guys deserved this chapter, at least for now.

Please read and review!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter Seven: Dinner and Diagon Alley

Again, no one spoke. Harry and Ron threw anxious glances at each other, while Ginny looked a little scared. Blaise had his eyes closed and looked as if he were thinking very hard. Hermione attempted a smile.

"Hi D-d-raco..." Hermione tried. Draco's head snapped up.

"What!" he asked.

"What? Oh, well, my mom, she requested I call you by your first name..." Another awkward silence. Hermione hated not knowing what to fill these silences with.

Finally, as if hearing her prayers, her mother called them down for dinner. "Blaise! Hermione! Bring your friends down for dinner!"

Hermione let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Come on guys, let's go eat." She walked towards the staircase, and sidled past Draco and Blaise. Hermione led them down to the dining room and showed them their seats. Hermione ended up sitting between Harry and Ginny, where she knew she would be across from Draco. Harry was next to her father, which made her somewhat nervous.

Dinner began without interruption. Blaise and Draco talked quietly to one another, looking quite bored if nothing else. Hermione showed her parents her test scores. They flooded her with comments and praise. Blaise scowled at this exchange.

Hermione was beginning to think dinner would end up okay, when the table...well, jumped. She looked up, her parents were leaving the kids to chat while they themselves were deep in conversation and didn't seem to notice. Ginny and Ron were taking turns glaring at Blaise and none of them seemed to notice the silverware clatter either. She looked over at Harry, who was looking determinedly at his plate, but looked as though he were concentrating very hard on his meal. She looked over to Draco, and the table jumped again. He winced for a split second.

Blaise, Ginny, and Ron tore themselves away from their silent contest to see what the commotion was. The table moved again, and this time Harry's face showed an image of discomfort.

Confused, Hermione looked back and forth between the two. She suddenly realized what was happening. She slid her chair back and looked under the table just as it moved for the third time. The idiots were kicking each other underneath the table!

"Harry!" she whispered threateningly. "Cut- it -out!" With that she threw a menacing glare at Blaise, who understood exactly what she meant. _Get that stupid git to stop acting like a three year old!_

Blaise leaned over and muttered something to Draco, who turned grudgingly back to his meal and continued eating.

After the slight interruption, which luckily, her parents did not seem to notice, dinner went over quite smoothly. Hermione led her friends back up to her room, and heard Draco and Blaise lock themselves in Blaise's quarters a few minutes later.

Harry, Ron, and Ginny stayed over for a couple more hours after dinner. They explained that they would probably not be able to visit again this summer because the Order was very busy, but they would write letters. Hermione was disappointed, but she understood the important work the Order had to do, and besides, school started in a few weeks anyway.

After her friends left, Hermione got changed and ready for bed. She spent a few moments mulling over the past day, and found a smile on her face, despite the interruption at dinner. She hadn't seen her friends since she had been in the hospital and she had missed them. She couldn't wait for school to start.

She also thought of the Grangers, and how much she missed them. She was still extremely upset over their deaths, and felt guilty about realizing how much she had gained recently.

Her thoughts were pushed aside when she heard a creak in the corridor. Leaning up on her elbows so she could see through the darkness, she saw through the crack between the door and the floor a shadow pass by her room_. It must be Draco walking back to his room. _Now her thoughts turned to Draco, and how weird but normal it seemed to say his name. She figured it was because her whole family called him that. She would never admit it, but she was actual quite impressed with his display that evening. Of course, the table fight did not go unchecked, but she had expected to have to break up a duel.

Well, it's the best I can get I suppose... and with that she fell into a comfortable sleep.

The next few weeks flew by for Hermione. She often spent the day reading in her room, or wandering around the large manor. When she wasn't doing that, she spent time with her mother. They often went out for lunch, or shopping. She learned from shopping just how well-off her family really was. Her mother bought new things at an alarming rate. Almost every time they went out, her mother bought her something new. She did happen to like the _Hogwarts, A History _Deluxe version that her mother bought her as soon as she caught her goggling at it from outside the bookstore. Nevertheless, she enjoyed these times, and looked forward to getting to know her family better. She never had to worry about people wondering why Hermione Granger was with a Zabini, because she looked entirely different now.

Her father was rarely home. He spent a lot of time at work, or out at meetings. He wasn't completely oblivious though, and he did not fail to strike up conversation with Hermione often.

Draco left about a week after he came. Hermione rarely saw him during his stay. During her days at home, Draco and Blaise usually stayed in either Draco or Blaise's rooms. She saw him occasionally at dinner, but sometimes neither Draco nor her brother would come to dinner, which Hermione thought was weird, since her mother and father were very big on family dinners.

As for Blaise, well, he mostly ignored her, except for the occasional "pass the salt" at dinner. She figured he was simply embarrassed of her, and she couldn't really have cared less at this point.

About 3 days prior to their return to Hogwarts, Hermione and Blaise received their letters, along with the long list of required books and their official classes that they had signed up for. When her father looked over each of their lists, she was surprised to see that Blaise was taking many of the courses that she was. Which meant of course, that she would most likely have many classes with Draco, because if she had discovered anything in these past weeks, it was that neither of them ever did anything without the other.

"Well, I suppose we'll have to visit Diagon Alley tomorrow then," her mother said after checking the lists. "Blaise, dear, you need new Slytherin robes, and Hermione needs some Gryffindor robes as well."

Hermione began to protest that she didn't need new robes, but her mother stopped her.

"Don't be silly, you have a new name, and you might as well have some new robesAnd I really think you should have an owl, so you can write to us regularly. Don't you think so dear?_"_

"Hmm?... Oh yes, of course, a nice owl would do her good. I think she deserves a gift anyway," her father agreed

Hermione smiled, but knew from shopping with her mother that the new robes were bound to be expensive. Not that she didn't like the nice things, she wasn't exactly poor when she was a Granger, but she also didn't have a seemingly infinite amount of galleons.She wasn't used to buying things whenever she wanted.

However, she knew arguing would do her no good, if her mother knew she wanted it or needed it, she wouldn't hesitate to buy it, no matter what the cost. In a way, she sort of liked being pampered like she now was. It made her feel relaxed, and after last year, that was just what she needed.

It was around eleven o'clock the next day. Hermione, her mother, and Blaise were just entering Diagon Alley. Her mother had suggested they leave somewhat early, to avoid a large crowd, as it was only a few days before school started.

They started walking through the crowded streets. Hermione noticed that they were skipping all the low priced stores and proceeding towards the expensive ones. People were looking at her strangely too, but she assumed it was because they hadn't ever seen her before, much less seen another Zabini, for it was clear she was related to them.

They entered a robe shop, which Hermione knew was expensive, but liked it against her own will. A middle-aged man with brown hair and blue eyes sat behind the counter. Blaise had clearly been here before, because he walked straight up to the owner and requested what he wanted. Hermione's mother brought her forward and told the owner that Hermione needed a new set of Gryffindor robes.

"Gryffindor? Surely not! Don't you mean Slytherin?"

Hermione blushed. "No, sir. Gryffindor."

Hermione's mother leaned over and whispered to the man. His eyes widened.

"Welcome back Miss Zabini! Of course, of course, I'll be pleased to get your robes right away! Just step this way and let me measure you."

Hermione was measured and fitted to her new robes. They were somewhat different from the casual ones she normally got. They were made from a more expensive and silky material, and she had to say that she loved them.

They left the store about thirty minutes later, heading for Flourish and Blotts. Hermione bought all of her required books, plus a few extra, which her mother insisted upon when she saw Hermione eyeing the shelves of books hungrily.

"Hermione, dear, I think we should go and get your money in your vault changed to your new one."

"Alright, do I need to set up a new account?" she asked.

"No, no. You already have one." Hermione was a little surprised at this, wondering how she could have had an account when she was about one year old. She followed her mother to Gringotts Bank. They went straight up to a goblin, and her mother requested that Hermione Granger's money be moved to the vault for Hermione Zabini. Hermione handed over her old key, and she got a new one instead.

The short goblin led them to a cart, and they made there way into the depths of the bank. They got out and Hermione gave her key to the goblin to open the door. When it opened, she nearly fell over out of shock. Her vault was filled to the brim with gold, silver, and bronze. There was more even than in Harry's vault. She hardly knew how it got there, or why it was necessary, because her mother and father gave her money whenever she needed it, and they always gave her too much.

They left Gringotts, and went to pick Blaise up from the Quidditch store they had dropped him off in. Her mother told her to go in and get Blaise quickly while she picked something up. She walked in the store and left the noisy street behind. That quickly changed. As she walked further into the store, she heard shouting.

"Why won't you answer us? Tell us what you did to Hermione!" Ron's voice carried over to her. She turned and saw Harry and Ron cornering Blaise. The weird thing was that Blaise was smirking in a bored sort of way, as if this was all some sort of game that had gotten boring awhile ago.

"Ron? Harry? What's going on?" Blaise eyes flashed over to her, and an odd look passed through his eyes. Ron and Harry rushed over to her.

"Hermione!" Harry cried. "Are you okay? Are you sure? Only, Blaise said you had gotten into an 'accident' and couldn't make it to Diagon Alley."

"What? No, I'm fine. I've been with my mum all this time! Sorry, but I have to go, I'll see you guys on the train, okay?" They nodded and threw glares at Blaise before hugging Hermione and saying goodbye. Blaise had a disgusted look on his face.

"Come on Blaise, Mum says we have to leave, because Dad is leaving for a business trip and we have to see him before he leaves."

He didn't say anything, but brushed past her and strutted out of the store, with several new bags in hand. Hermione quickly caught up with his fast pace on the way back to the Leaky Cauldron.

"Blaise!... Blaise!"

"Merlin, what do you want?" her nearly yelled.

"Why did you tell them I was in an accident?"

He smirked. "Honestly? I thought it would be funny."

"Funny? Blaise, these are my friends! And you may not care about them, but I do! If I have to be civil to that ungracious little ferret, the least you could do is not antagonize my friends! One would think you were as bad as Malfoy the way you have been acting!"

With that, she turned away and hurried through the door into The Leaky Cauldron. She didn't even bother to look at Blaise the whole way home. He didn't say anything to her for the rest of the day. Hermione was thankful, she thought she may have pushed a few buttons. After all, he of all people knew the damage Malfoy was capable of, and she had compared her own brother to him.

At least they were heading back to Hogwarts tomorrow, and after that, maybe she wouldn't even have to talk to Blaise until Christmas break. Hermione dwelled on the happiness of returning tomorrow. Her hopes were crushed though, when she realized all she would have to face when she got back to school. Everyone would wonder who she was. She did look entirely different. How could she explain it all? How could she explain that she had gone, over summer break, from Hermione Granger, muggleborn... to Hermione Zabini, pureblood?


	8. A Rough Start

A/N: This is a really short chapter, I'm sorry. I'm working on the next one though, and I wanted to submit this one so you had something to read while you waited.

Please read and review!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 8: A Rough Start

"Blaise! Hurry up! We're going to be late!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Blaise ran down the stairs to the front door. Outside Hermione and Blaise's trunks were being levitated into the trunk of the car. Hermione ran outside right after Blaise.

"Mum! How are we getting- whoa!... We're going to King's Cross by car?" Hermione asked.

"What the hell is a car?" Blaise asked. Everyone ignored him.

"Yes, dear. It's a surprise for you! Do you like it?" Her mother questioned excitedly. Hermione ran over and hugged her mother. Together they made their way to the vehicle.

"...Muggle-style? Ugh..." Blaise trudged his way over to the car, trying to let everyone know he did not approve.

The ride to King's Cross Station was very quiet. Hermione and her mother talked about muggle things, of which Blaise did not understand. He was certainly surprised at how much his own mother knew about the muggle world. He figured she must have read a few books on it before Hermione came.

When they arrived, their mother hugged them goodbye at the entrance to the platform.

"Have a good term! Don't forget to write! Talk to each other, and help each other!"

Little did she know they were both thinking the exact opposite. _Yeah right, once I get there, maybe I won't have to talk to him until Christmas, _Hermione thought.

Blaise was thinking along those lines. _Like I'd ever be caught dead talking to her._

Blaise went through the platform first, without looking back. Hermione frowned at his retreating figure.

"Don't worry sweetheart. I'm sure he'll come around, have fun." Her mother smiled warmly at her and gave her one last hug.

Hermione took a deep breath and leaned against the barrier. Once on the other side, she had joined the hustle and bustle of students and their families. No one seemed to notice her yet, not that they had ever seen her before anyway.

She politely pushed her way through the crowd to the train and climbed aboard. There were several students in the hall, but Hermione didn't recognize any of them. She decided to check the compartments for her friends.

About half-way down the hall, she still hadn't found Harry, Ron, or Ginny. She was just about to knock on the next door, when she heard voices inside. She stopped to listen. Being friends with Harry and Ron all these years had that kind of fault.

"-ridiculous... I don't even really like her. She just comes in changing everything. Do you know we took a _car_ here this morning?" someone asked.

"But, isn't that a _muggle_ vehicle?"She'd know that drawl anywhere

Hermione had heard enough. She knew this was Blaise's way of dealing with a new sibling, and that he didn't really mean it. She was smart enough to figure that much out. But, something inside of her was still upset at her twin's disposition. She leaned against the wall as she felt tears sting her eyes.

"Hermione?" She quickly wiped her eyes on her sleeve and whipped around. "Ginny!" Then she noticed Harry and Ron behind her. "Harry! Ron!" She gave them each a hug. Harry looked at her with inquiring eyes, but shrugged it off when she smiled warmly at him. She didn't want them to know she'd been upset. "I've missed you guys."

"We've missed you too. Come on, our compartment's a little further down,"Ron said. She nodded and went to follow Harry and Ron when she felt a hand on her arm. Ginny was searching her face for an answer. She knew Hermione was upset, she wasn't as oblivious as her brother._Later, _she mouthed, and then hastily ran to catch up with Harry to avoid questioning.

Several minutes later, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Harry were sitting in a compartment near the end of the train. Hermione and Ginny were watching Harry lose to Ron in wizard's chess. Hermione's head was clearly not focused on the game between her two best friends, but only Ginny seemed to notice. She kept throwing glances in Hermione's direction. They had spent only a minimal amount of time talking about Hermione's new family, she didn't want to get too into the details at that moment.

Suddenly Ron yelled in triumph, apparently he was very close to winning. Harry's face was deep in thought. It was then that she noticed Ron's prefect badge. She looked down at hers. It wasn't there. _Oh no_, she thought, _I must have lost it in the hall when I was eavesdropping._

"Guys I think I dropped my prefects badge out in the corridor, I'm gonna go find it. Ron, we should head off to the prefect's meeting as well."

"Hang on," he said distractedly, "I've almost won." She rolled her eyes as she turned and shut the compartment door behind her.

She walked along until she saw something gold glimmering just ahead on the floor. _There it is._

Just as she reached down to pick it up, a compartment behind her opened its door. "Well, well, well. If it isn't the wanna-be pureblood. Too used to groveling on the ground?"

"Actually Parkinson, I dropped my badge. I'm on my way to the prefect's meeting." Then a thought occurred to her. "Wait a second, how do you know it's me?"

Pansy smirked and motioned behind her. Hermione leaned over to look into the compartment. Draco was standing behind her, and Blaise was staring motionlessly out the window. He didn't seem to even notice that there was anything going on.

"Get out of the way, we're going to be late." She shoved past Hermione and headed off to the front of the train. Draco walked past without even glancing at her.

Hermione waited for Ron in the hallway, not wanting to go to the meeting alone.

About ten minutes later, she and Ron were back in their own compartment, talking about quidditch with Harry. The majority of the meeting was wasted asking Hermione questions. Hardly anyone was listening to the Head Boy and Head Girl, instead they kept throwing glances at Hermione. She sighed. This was going to be a rough year.

They arrived at the school sometime later, and took the carriages up to the school. They walked into the Great Hall, and settled down to eat. While Harry and Ron discussed Quidditch, Hermione used the opportunity to fill Ginny in on what had happened since she last saw her.

"Hermione! I'm disappointed in you! How could you let him walk all over you like that!"

"Gin! Keep it down!... I don't want him to hate me! I mean if I was cruel and heartless back, we wouldn't make any progress ever!"

"Well, I still think you should let him know that he's being a-"

"Let who know what?" Ron asked through a mouthful of mashed potatoes.

"Nothing Ron, shhh, look, Dumbledore's about to speak." Ron shut his mouth, but continued to stare at Hermione and Ginny. Only when he heard Dumbledore speaking did he turn his head.

Hermione let herself listen to Dumbledore while she glanced around the hall. The Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuffs were listening intently. The Gryffindors were either listening, or eating, and the Slytherins were not listening at all. Or at least, they didn't appear to be as they were all talking amongst each other.

Hermione sighed, _was it utterly impossible to be in Gryffindor and still be friendly with a Slytherin? I mean Sirius was in Gryffindor, and Regulus was in Slytherin. But then again, they didn't exactly get along..._

Dumbledore finished up his speech, and all the yawning students stood up to leave. Hermione and Ron hurried ahead to help guide everyone back to Gryffindor tower. Hermione continued to think about her new brother, and her new family. Would they ever be as close as her other family had been? Would she ever fit in?

Hermione said good night to Harry, Ron, and Ginny, and went straight to bed. She ignored all the stares of her house mates, who clearly had already heard the rumor, and had not dared to believe it. She did not even stop to talk to Parvati and Lavender, who obviously wanted the full story. She lay down without even changing out of her robes. Thinking about what this new year would be like, she drifted off to sleep...


	9. Trouble with the Slytherins

A/N: AP exams are officially over! Hooray! Although, this is the last chapter I have prepared at least a little bit, so the next update will take a little while. But now that I have more time, I am hoping it to be out soon! However, if anyone has any suggestions, I'd be happy to take a look at them as I prepare the next chapters!

This chapter is a little confusing, because I switch between characters a little bit, but I think it's okay.

P.S. Don't worry the Draco/Hermione stuff is on its way...

Chapter nine: Trouble with the Slytherins

Light peered through a crack in the bed hangings on Hermione's bed. Her eyes fluttered open and she rolled over. The clock by her bed told her it was still early, and that classes wouldn't begin for some time. Groaning, she sat up. The other girls in her dormitory were still fast asleep from the looks of things.

Deciding to get a head start, and maybe get a little preemptive reading in, Hermione touched her feet to the cold stone floor. She grabbed her toiletries bag and headed for a refreshing shower.

After showering, Hermione stood in front of the mirror to brush her teeth. She stood examining her new self, and her new appearance. Her now almost-black hair was drying straight, and her blue eyes glared at her from under long black eyelashes.

_Should I hate myself for liking the way I look now? _She thought. _Is it wrong that I feel more confident this way?_

_No,_ she decided. This was a new year for her, and the start of pretty much a new life. She was going to enjoy it. And with Malfoy being civil towards her, and having allies within Slytherin, things might not be so bad after all. She finished brushing her teeth, and walked out of the bathroom smiling.

She got changed into her new school robes, combed her hair, and pocketed her wand. She grabbed one of her new spellbooks and headed down to the common room.

Hermione sat reading for what seemed like hours before people started filtering out of the staircases yawning. Harry and Ron were some of the last ones out, and they headed down to the Great Hall together.

At breakfast, people kept throwing curious looks at Hermione, but it seemed she did not notice. She was completely absorbed in her book and her meal. Harry and Ron noticed though, and glanced at each other with worried expressions. A few minutes later, Ginny joined them, and threw a furious glance at a group of Ravenclaws who were throwing furtive glances at Hermione and talking in hushed tones.

"What's up Hermione?" Ginny asked with a smile. Hermione didn't respond. "Good book Hermione!"

Hermione finally looked up from her book and smirked at Ginny, who was sitting next to Ron on the other side of the table. Ron fell off the bench backwards.

"Ron! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, but... Blimey, Hermione, you reminded me of _Malfoy_ for a minute there," he replied squeakily.

"Don't be ridiculous Ronald. It's Zabi- Blaise... who I'm related to. Malfoy's got nothing to do with it," she said.

"You're a little more than related to him Hermione," Harry spoke up. "You're his twin sister after all. Now that I think of it, I've seen him in the library on more than one occasion. It's surprising that we didn't realize your relation sooner."

Ron just continued to star open mouthed at her. Ginny was recovering from a fit of giggles from the combined effects of Harry's comment and her brother's fall.

"Close your mouth please Mr. Weasley. Gryffindors do not chew with their mouths open." It was McGonagall, who had come around to distribute their schedules.

Ron's ears turned pink, but he nodded.

"No!" Ron cried. "Double potions with the Slytherins, _first_!" There was a collective groan from the rest of the sixth years who were taking Advanced Potions around him.

"Well, it is almost time to go anyways. We should try not to get any points deducted before class even starts," Hermione pointed out. Harry and Ron reluctantly agreed, and they headed towards the dungeons.

Ten minutes later, the trio was sitting in potions class, brewing their first potion of the year. Snape hadn't even looked up from his work as they walked into the classroom. He simply pointed to the chalkboard, and directions started to write themselves across it.

Now, however, he seemed finished with whatever he had been doing, and was walking around the classroom, inspecting work.

"Very nice Mr. Malfoy," he stated as he passed. Hermione hid her face behind her hair and bent low over her potion so he would not recognize her.

"Weasley, you might as well just throw this out. It looks nothing like it should," he waited for Ron to retort so that he could deduct points, but Ron simply cleared his potion and started over. Hermione was looking at him curiously, and she did not even see Snape sneak up behind her. He was clearly scrutinizing the concoction, looking for mistakes. When he didn't find one, he just made to move on.

_Phew... _Hermione thought. But just then he turned around. He looked at Hermione for a minute, and suddenly a smirk appeared on his face. _Oh no. I spoke too soon._

"Hmm... This potion is good. I have only seen this kind of meticulous, know-it-all work in one other student," he sneered. "Going for a new look Miss Granger?"

The Slytherins sniggered at the front of the dungeon. She didn't say anything, but continued to stir her potion. _He just wants you to say something so he can take points away from Gryffindor._ _Don't give him the satisfaction._

Apparently Snape lost interest quickly, because he turned around and sauntered up the aisle to his desk soon after, his black robe billowing behind him.

Hermione bottled her potion and quickly gathered her supplies when the bell rang. She walked swiftly out into the corridor before anyone could say anything to her.

"Hermione!" She turned around and saw Harry and Ron rushing up to her. "Don't let him get to you. This will all die down soon."

"Will it Harry? I just got over everything this summer, and it had finally died down. And then I come here and it's like doing it all over again! I just need to be alone for a little. I have to go to Arithmancy. I'll see you at dinner." With that she slung her bag higher onto her shoulder and walked off towards her next class.

"That will be all for today! You all did an excellent job on your first day back, so no homework!" Everyone sighed in relief at Professor Vector's last words. Hermione gathered her books and headed into the hall to meet Harry and Ron for lunch.

She could tell that people were staring at her, but was determined not to let it bother her. She didn't want anyone, especially the Slytherins, to see her cry. She pretended to be absorbed in a book as she walked quicker.

"Hey Zabini!" Someone called in a singsong voice from behind her. It sounded like a Slytherin, it definitely was not someone familiar. Hermione ignored him.

Trying not to let it bother her, she continued to absorb herself in her book when _smack! _She ran straight into someone. Her books toppled to the floor and scattered, her wand rolled off somewhere behind her. "Going somewhere _Zabini_?"

Hermione looked up into the face of a rather burly looking seventh year Slytherin. Very soon his friends arrived from behind Hermione. She could see that a few of the group were from her year as well.

"We've been meaning to talk to you since you arrived, but you have always been surrounded by your lovely Gryffindor friends. You may be a Zabini now, but we know what you really are."

A few of them picked up Hermione's books and threw them back and forth. She could even see Pansy Parkinson snickering with her usual gaggle of Slytherin girls in the background. Without being able to stop them, tears began to form in her eyes. She had been the blunt of Slytherin ridicule before, but never had they taken the time to corner her and verbally abuse her.

"Oh look, the Wanna-be-Pureblood is crying..."

Blaise left Professor Vector's classroom shaking his head. That was the second teacher to question him about his "new family". He knew it was just the first day back, but honestly, the gall to ask questions about his home and personal life was amazing.

He turned a corner and his stomach groaned. He quickened his pace to make it to lunch. Farther down the corridor, a group of people were gathered. As he got closer, he could see that they were all Slytherins. Wondering what on earth they were doing out here when lunch had just began, he approached the crowd. The first person he saw was Draco, leaning against the wall near the outside of the circle and smirking, twirling his wand in his hand.

"Drake, what the hell is going on here?" Draco continued to smirk at whatever was going on, Blaise thought he could hear sobbing. Suddenly realizing that Blaise had arrived and spoken to him, Draco gave a little jump, and looked frantically between his best friend and the Slytherins for a second.

"Draco wha-? No... You've got to be kidding me..." Blaise pushed roughly through the group of people and arrived in the middle with a terrible look on his face. He looked over and saw Hermione crying as those around her tossed her wand around and ripped apart her books.

"What are you people doing!" Everyone stopped and it got very quiet.

"We're just having some fun Blaise! You said you didn't even like her anyway," one of the seventh years spoke up.

"You are all acting like first years! Cornering someone and taunting them! This is my _sister_! It doesn't matter if I don't like her, you will not touch her ever again! Got it!"

"Okay, okay, jeez..."

"Come on Hermione..." Blaise went over to Hermione and grabbed her arm. "Draco, get her stuff."

Draco looked as though he were about to protest, but when he saw the murderous look in his friend's eyes, he waved his wand to gather Hermione's stuff, and followed Blaise and Hermione back in the other direction.

Hermione didn't know how they knew where it was, but it seemed as though they were taking her to Gryffindor Tower. Too upset to care, she let Blaise lead her away.

Once outside her common room, Hermione whispered the password so that Blaise could not hear. The Fat Lady threw contemptuous looks at the two Slytherins alongside her. Blaise helped her through the portrait hole. Outside, Draco was debating whether or not it would be safe to enter. All the Gryffindors were probably down in the Great Hall, and he was _itching_ to see inside, this might be his only chance...

Right as the painting was about to close, he lunged and opened it back up. Hurrying inside, he looked around. If he was purely honest with himself, he would have said he preferred this room much more than his own. The fire burned bright, and there was a cozy demeanor that the Slytherin common room, down in the dungeons, could have never pulled off. Seeing Blaise guiding Hermione to an armchair, Draco settled himself against the wall right near the portrait hole.

"Come on Hermione," Blaise said. "Just relax and you'll be f-"

"Be what Blaise? Be _fine_? This is the first time you've spoken more than a few harsh words to me! Don't presume to tell me when I will or will not be fine!"

"I wasn't, I didn't think that-"

"That's the whole point isn't it? You didn't think! You suddenly care for me now, when all the time I've been at Zabini Manor you've done nothing but ignore me! You even told your friends that you didn't give a damn about me!"

Draco's ears perked up. She had heard their conversations? And she even had the guts to curse and shout at Blaise. Blaise, whom he had never seen more docile, was now staring at his sister as she yelled at him.

"And now, when your _friends_ attack me in the hall, you decide you've finally got to act! Even though your best friend stood by the whole time and did nothing!" The two of them both sent looks in Draco's direction, and he shifted uneasily. The resemblance between the two was unnerving. "The two of you make me sick! You know, I actually thought this year would be better, now that I had a brother to look after me, and I thought I wouldn't have as many enemies in Slytherin, but things have just gotten worse! And people who you two are friends with murdered my own parents! Do you even realize that! I've lost two parents this summer! I might seem fine, but I'm not!... I-I'm not!"

With that, Hermione broke down into tears. The deaths of her parents, and the way her new life had started out finally began to catch up with her. She collapsed onto the couch behind her. Blaise, who had clearly never comforted anyone before, looked torn between hauling it back out of the door, and staying to help her. He finally decided on the latter, and sat down on the couch beside his sister, pulling her into an awkward half-hug. She clutched at his robes, crying.

Draco, meanwhile, was pretending he was a part of the wall. It was weird enough that he was even in here. Realizing he was still holding Hermione's bag, he walked over and lay it on an armchair. With a feeling of renewed dread, he heard footsteps, and the portrait hole opened...


	10. Hogsmeade

Chapter Ten: Hogsmeade

"What the _hell_?"

Hermione looked up from her position on the couch with her brother. Harry and Ron had obviously just finished dinner. Draco was attempting to once again become a part of the wall.

"Hermione, why is he in here?"

Ginny answered for her. "Relax Harry, he's her brother. Maybe they were just talking."

"Don't be stupid Ginny," Ron began. "If Hermione wants to talk to Zabini then fine, but why is he in here?" He pointed to Draco, who was now flattened against the wall in an attempt to go unnoticed. Everyone turned to look at him, he smirked.

Hermione seemed to regain her composure at this point. Thanking God that no one had drawn wands yet, she stood up and smoothed her robes. "Harry, Ron, Blaise is allowed in here if I say he is allowed in here. We were simply talking," she shot Blaise a look. "Malfoy- er Draco... he was just around at the moment. He's just been standing here."

"Hermione, it's fine... I think we'll go now," Blaise said. He motioned to Draco to follow. Draco looked relieved. Ron had moved closer to him with his hand in his robe pocket, clearly fingering his wand, with a threatening look in his eye. Draco, in no mood to be ambushed by Gryffindors by starting a duel on their turf, quickly followed Blaise out of the portrait hole.

For a few seconds Hermione stood and watched the portrait close. Then she sprang into action and hurried after Blaise in Draco's wake.

"Blaise!... Blaise, stop walking! _Blaise_!"

He stopped walking. Draco did not forsee this, he smacked into him and fell to the floor. Scowling at his friend, he stood up and turned to look at Hermione too.

"What Hermione?"

"Well I just wanted to...uh..." She looked at Draco. "Could we have a moment, please?" Draco looked over at Blaise who sighed but nodded. He walked down the hall, turned a corner, and disappeared.

"Blaise, I just wanted to say... thanks. For you know, defending me, and...listening."

Blaise looked at her for a minute. "Your welcome." Then, unexpectedly, "I didn't think it would be so hard to have a sister."

Hermione wasn't expecting this. She didn't know what to say.

"I'm sorry... I guess I have been so worried about my own problems that I didn't understand it might be uncomfortable for you too."

"Well... I'll see you around then?"

"Yeah... see you." Hermione stared at Blaise's retreating figure before turning at walking back to Gryffindor Tower. She arrived to find a few more people back from dinner, and Harry, Ron, and Ginny sitting near the fire. She walked over to join them.

"Wanna tell us what that was all about Hermione?" She sighed.

"Nothing really... I just got into some trouble with a few Slytherins. Blaise helped me out."

"What! Who was it? Give me their names!"

"Ron, sit down. It's not a big deal. I just got a little upset, and Blaise helped me back to the common room. But I'm okay now, I promise. I just kept what happened over the summer bottled up for too long, that's all."

Ginny looked at her sympathetically.

Harry responded, "You know we're always here to talk. Whenever."

"I know, but I'll be fine, honest." She gave them a reassuring smile.

Hermione now knew that she could not keep these feelings bottled up inside of her. She should have talked to her friends as soon as she saw them. From now on, she vowed to be more open with them. She also hoped that this incident would help break the ice between her and Blaise. She wanted to have a real brother, and she hoped that being in rival houses would not prevent that.

The next few weeks passed without major incident. Quickly adapting to her new classes, Hermione was becoming her old, bookworm self. Her grades were, as usual, at the top of the class. Her teachers had stopped asking her weird questions after the first week, and she now had reduced herself to just about as many stares from her peers as Harry had. This was still a lot, but she considered it an improvement.

The Slytherins had not bothered Hermione again. In fact, they were treating her better than ever, that is, they were completely ignoring her. Although, she was sure she saw Blaise give her a few smiles whenever she saw him in the corridor. As soon as she did a double-take, however, the smile had vanished, and Hermione would watch him disappear with Malfoy.

Her spirits did not sway over the beginning weeks of school though. Her life was back to almost normal.

One difference being her owl post. With her other parents being Muggles, she rarely received mail besides the _Daily Prophet_. Now though, she seemed to receive letters and packages nearly every day. Hermione tried not to be as conceited as she knew Malfoy could be when receiving sweets and presents from home, but sometimes she could not suppress a squeal of joy. Her mother would send her all sorts of new reading material, and her father would send her snacks almost every day. With her muggle parents being dentists, she rarely ate candy, but she figured now was as good a time as ever to make up for it. It seemed this was a regular occurrence with the Zabinis however, because Hermione noticed that Blaise did not seem nearly as excited about his morning owl post.

One such morning in late October, Hermione found herself squealing with joy over a new book her mother had just sent her. One she had been wanting for years, but was a limited edition and was therefore very expensive.

Ron and Harry rolled their eyes when they saw it was merely a book that she was excited about.

"Wow, Hermione," Ginny said, looking over in response to Hermione's outburst. "That's a really rare book. I don't normally read too much, but I know enough to know that it's a very hard book to find."

"Yeah, I mean, I can't say I'm not excited over a gift like this, but it's not even my birthday or anything. And I've tried telling my mom that she doesn't have to buy me so much stuff, but she won't hear about it."

While Hermione was still rapidly flicking the pages of her new book, she failed to notice the Great Hall go silent very quickly. Looking around, she noticed almost everyone was staring at someone who was walking across the room. Standing up off the bench a little, she noticed it was Blaise. She looked towards Ginny with a questioning look, but she just shrugged.

Wondering what he was doing as he was now walking towards her, Hermione glanced at Draco, who seemed annoyed by his friend's actions, and was rolling his eyes and sighing. Apparently, Slytherins, especially Blaise, did not normally visit the Gryffindor table during breakfast. Unless of course, you were Malfoy, who had decided to come and taunt Harry or some other unsuspecting person.

When Blaise reached Hermione, the deathly hush was still present in the Hall. Ron seemed to think this was ridiculous because he stood up and yelled loudly, "Oi! Can't a brother and sister talk at breakfast! Mind your own damn business!"

Hermione blushed and was in the process of reprimanding Ron when Blaise spoke.

"Good morning." He smiled, showing his pearly white teeth. Ginny seemed to have begun choking next to her. "Did you know that tomorrow is a Hogsmeade trip?"

"I did."

"Well, I was wondering if you maybe wanted to join me tomorrow, so we could, uh, get to know one another a little better?" Hermione had to admit that she admired his poise in this situation. Had she gone over to the Slytherin table, she probably would have run away by now, scared by all the deadly glares. Blaise, seemed unaffected however, except for the obvious awkwardness in talking to his sister whom he had barely just met.

"I would love to." Hermione smiled too, and Blaise walked back to his table. She could see Malfoy begin rapidly questioning him, but she couldn't help but grin.

Saturday donned bright and cool, a perfect day for walking through the village. Hermione dressed quickly, having had a more sound sleep than usual, and hurried down to the common room to meet the boys for breakfast.

Ron looked glum as usual, but Harry seemed to be in almost as good a mood at Hermione.

"What's up Harry?" she asked.

Before he could answer, Ron interrupted, "He's going to Hogsmeade with _Ginny_."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "What's wrong with that?"

"Well, it's Harry and my sister. _And_ now I have to go alone!"

"I'm sure you can find somebody to hang out with. And we'll see you later anyway," she said matter-of-factly. Then she turned to Harry. "It's about time you know." The she grinned and hurried over to the table.

After breakfast, the Great Hall started to empty as the older students made their way to the village, or the younger students headed grumpily to their common rooms. Hermione said goodbye to Harry, Ron, and Ginny, and walked into the entrance hall to search for Blaise.

"Hey," someone said behind her.

"Oh! Hello, I was looking for you."

"I know, we can leave in a minute, hang on." Hermione now noticed that Draco was sulking in the corner. Blaise went over to him and whispered a quick word to him before turning to her. He smiled, but she couldn't miss the look of exasperation he gave his friend. "Okay, let's go."

As they headed out towards Hogsmeade, they received many stares. Finally, Blaise broke the silence. "I guess they're all looking at you. I've been receiving more stares than usual, but it's not like this."

"Yeah, I have kind of gotten used to it," Hermione said, finding it easier than she expected to talk to her brother.

"So this must be what it's like to be Potter, huh?" Blaise smiled at her, and Hermione found herself smiling back.

"Yeah, I suppose," she laughed.

"How are your friends taking it?" He asked. She didn't have to ask what he meant.

"Pretty good, considering everything. I mean, I can't expect it to be exactly the same, but they're great friends, they really are. Even Ron is taking it okay, I haven't seen the true Weasley temper yet, at least." Hermione smiled fondly.

Blaise raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you and Ron...?"

She looked quizzically at him, but then blushed as she realized what he was asking. "Oh, no! We're just friends."

"I see." They continued walking, they were almost inside the village now, and they fell into another silence. Hermione supposed it was hard to find something to talk about with someone who you didn't know anything about, and you had just started talking to them.

"How are your friends taking everything?" She asked as they stepped into Hogsmeade.

"No one has really said anything, especially after I told them not to... The only person who I really care what they think is Draco. He could be taking it better. He doesn't say anything about you, he doesn't have much ammo anymore... But, I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm going to turn into a goody-goody lately."

Hermione laughed. "Well that's kind of ridiculous, isn't it? A Slytherin goody-goody? I think that's an oxymoron."

Blaise laughed too, and as they walked through the shops, Hermione found she had more in common with Blaise than she good have previously imagined. He loved reading, and he had actually read _Hogwarts, A History_. He held good grades in class, above that of Harry and Ron at least. He also loved Christmas, pumpkin pie, and sugar quills, some of her favorite things.

They also talked about their friends and family. Blaise told her about his friendship with Draco, and how even though he was a complete git, Blaise had known him since he was a little kid, and he was the best friend he'd ever had. Hermione talked about Harry and Ron and Ginny, and how great of friends they were, even if they hadn't started out on the right foot. They shared funny stories and laughed, and Hermione was surprised at how easily she found it was to confide in her brother.

After spending a majority of the day shopping around, they got a butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks, and headed back up to the castle.

"I had a really great day, you know," she said as they reached the front doors. "I hope we can do it again sometime."

"Yeah, it was pretty fun. I'll see you later?"

"Sure, bye."

"Bye."

As Hermione headed back to Gryffindor Tower, she decided that this wouldn't be such a bad year after all. She hoped that she could become closer with Blaise and hopefully get to know him better. She also was hoping things would work out with him and Draco. She still didn't particularly like him, but if it would make Blaise happy for them to get along, she was going to do the best she could.


	11. Lunch with Draco

Chapter Eleven: Lunch with Malfoy

The day before the end of the term, Hermione and her friends were eating breakfast in the Great Hall. The enchanted ceiling was a bleak gray, but a light snow was falling just above their heads. Hermione took another sip of her pumpkin juice and turned the page of the Daily Prophet.

"Geez, I wonder what's up with them?" Ron asked as he craned his head to get a better look at the Slytherin table.

Hermione looked up from the paper and saw the Great Hall doors swing shut. She looked over towards the Slytherin table and saw Blaise with an angry look, like he would have a permanent scowl plastered to his face for the rest of his life. A few steps back, Draco was stomping over to the table with his arms crossed, and his nose in the air, clearly pissed off. In Hermione's opinion, he looked like he had just said something that had made Blaise mad at him, and he was pretending like it didn't bother him in the least that his friend was upset. He gave no inclination that he thought what had happened was wrong.

Hermione looked back at Blaise, he was sitting with his head in his hands, as if he had a bad headache. She felt bad for him. It was pretty obvious, but it seemed as though that little episode showed just how less accepting Slytherins were of others.

As she thought about this, the owl post began to arrive. As usual, a small package and a letter were dropped near Hermione's plate, and she turned back to her friends.

She opened the letter first and felt her heart sink.

_Dear Hermione,_

_Your father and I were awaiting this year's Christmas vacation in the hopes that we would have more time together as a family. However, a very important meeting will be drawing us away from the Manor for the majority of your break. We have already informed Blaise, and he has decided to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas, as Draco will be staying too. Maybe you could get to know your brother a little better since you'll both be at school together? I have sent you four boxes of your favorite sugar quills in the hope that you can forgive us. We'll see you at Easter, definitely._

_Love,_

_Your mother_

With a resounding _crack!_ Hermione was brought back to the Great Hall. She looked around for the source of the commotion and saw Blaise standing up out of his seat, with his hand in a fist, looking down at something on the floor. Then she realized that Draco was nowhere to be seen.

"That was brilliant!" Ron exclaimed, and Hermione noticed that all eyes were on the two Slytherins, or just on Blaise, as she was assuming Draco was down the stone floor.

"Yeah Hermione, looks like it runs in the family," Harry grinned at her and she couldn't help but smirk.

Teachers were already rushing through a crowd of Slytherins to the scene. But then, as Blaise turned to leave, Draco, with a blood rushing down his pale face from his nose, got up from the ground and tackled him from behind. From that point on, it sounded like one of the biggest fights she had ever been around was going on. Wands were apparently forgotten. All that could be heard now was cursing and yelling.

Snape finally arrived on the scene and used a muttered charm to pull the two apart. Standing up, the both of them looked entirely worse for the wear. Both looked like they were going to be sporting black eyes for awhile, Blaise's cheek was definitely going to have a bruise, and Draco had a split lip. Draco looked worse only because his nose was still bleeding, and now his white shirt was turning crimson.

"Crabbe, Goyle! Take these two to the hospital wing, and make sure they don't kill each other on the way," Snape sneered. Then turning to the rest of the school he shouted, "What are you all looking at? Get to class!"

Hermione, deciding class could wait for once, stuffed her letter into the package and grabbed the strings as she rushed out of the Great Hall towards the hospital wing.

"You son of a bitch," Blaise hissed to his friend on the way to the hospital wing. Goyle was separating them, but he was leaning forward, trying to pull his arm out of Crabbe's hold, as to get a better aim at Draco.

"What the hell is wrong with you Blaise? You're completely different anymore. Nothing I say is okay with you," Draco managed to retort through his bleeding nose.

"She's my fucking sister you idiot! Whoever the hell she was before does not matter. You cannot just insult her whenever you want!"

"_You_ used to like insulting her too."

"Well, it's different now," Blaise said as he walked through the infirmary doors. "And you have to accept that if you're going to be around me all the time."

"Oh my! You, Mr. Zabini, over here. And Mr. Malfoy, you can sit on that bed on the other side. You two," she motioned to Crabbe and Goyle, "You may leave now." They sauntered out the doors and disappeared from view.

Almost directly afterwards, Hermione came rushing into the infirmary, banging the doors open roughly. She scanned the room, her eyes stopping briefly on Madame Pomfrey attending to Draco, and then made her way to her brother's side.

"Oh my God! Are you okay! What happened?"

"He pissed me off." Hermione decided to leave it at that.

Blaise looked over at Draco and saw him scowling over at them. Deciding this was an opportune moment, he looked back at Hermione.

"Hey, are you staying at Hogwarts over break?" He asked her, loud enough for Draco to hear.

"Um, I suppose so. I just got the letter from Mother this morning, and she suggested that I do."

"Good. Would you like to join me for lunch in Hogsmeade the first day off?"

She brightened at his words. "Of course. I'll meet you in the Entrance Hall tomorrow around eleven?"

"Sounds great," Blaise smiled.

"Okay, I'll see you then, I'd better be getting to class." With that she turned and hurried from the room. She looked back once to see Draco sending glares at his friend. Sighing, Hermione instead turned her thoughts to how Christmas break had turned from being disappointing, to hopeful.

Hermione didn't see Blaise for the remainder of the day, but as dinner rolled around, she saw him walking with Draco down to the Great Hall. When she caught his eye, he smiled at her. She assumed that he must have worked things out with Draco, because she didn't receive any glares on his part. In fact, he simply looked to her, stared for a moment, and proceeded into dinner.

After he disappeared, Blaise made his way over to her.

"Wow," was all she said.

"I know," Blaise replied. He laughed a little nervously. "We talked for a bit. Actually, it was more than a bit. It takes an unsurprisingly long amount of time to break that Malfoy pride."

"I can only imagine." She smiled. "See you tomorrow."

Blaise nodded, and they headed off to their respective tables for the last dinner of the term.

The next morning, Hermione woke up to a dazzling sunlight reflecting off of the snow outside. With about an hour until she had to be in the Entrance Hall, she decided to prepare for lunch with her brother. After getting dressed, she donned her cloak and her red and gold scarf, and descended the stairs to the Gryffindor common room. Ginny was already sitting down there, reading a large book.

"Morning Ginny!"

"Hey Hermione, where are you off to at," she glanced down at her watch. "Ten thirty?"

"I'm going to lunch with Blaise. The boys won't be up until two anyways."

"That's true. I'll see you when you get back then?"

"Definitely."

Hermione walked cheerfully out of the portrait hole and made her way towards the meeting place. She felt happier than she had felt in awhile. There were no more real problems with her and her brother, and they were getting along quite well. Even Draco seemed better since his and Blaise's fight.

When she arrived at the bottom of the marble staircase, she was surprised to find that Blaise was not present. Someone else was standing in his place, looking as though he were waiting for someone.

"Draco?" He turned around smoothly, and eyed her curiously for a few seconds.

"Grang- er, Hermione," he stumbled.

"Um, where's Blaise?" Hermione asked.

"He received detention for starting a fight in the Great Hall," he paused to smirk. "Therefore, he told me to tell you that he is sorry, but he will be unable to make it to your lunch. But he said he'll pick you up for breakfast tomorrow morning."

"Oh." Her face fell a little. "Thanks." She turned to walk away.

"Wait," Draco called. "Um, Blaise...He um, I don't know why I'm listening to the bastard... He- shit. Do you want to come to lunch with me?"

"What?"

"Your _wonderful_ brother... He thinks it would be good for me to get to know you."

"And you agreed?" She asked, a look of skepticism about her.

"Look, Granger. Damn it! Hermione. I've known Blaise a lot longer than you have. He's the only real friend I've got. And I'm not about to let _you_ of all people come storming into his life and steal that away from me."

Hermione scrutinized him for a few more seconds. "Okay, I'll come with you. But only because I want Blaise to be happy, and I have nothing to do until Ron and Harry get up anyway."

"Well it's not like I wanted to take you with me," Draco began as they walked out the doors and headed towards the village. "Stubborn prick wouldn't take no for an answer."

"It's nice to know I'm so wanted," Hermione said sarcastically.

"I just wanted you to know that you have him to thank if one or both of us returns injured from this little trip." Hermione laughed lightly.

"You know Draco," she said as she looked at him curiously. "I don't think you're all bad. A little rough around the edges maybe. But I think you've had everyone cleverly fooled these past few years. You _do_ have a heart in there somewhere."

"You caught me. I'm a crazy emotional fool, and I haven't really meant all those things I've said over the years." He rolled his eyes.

"That's not what I was implying. I think that deep down you don't agree with everything you've learned growing up. Everything that your father taught you. And having your best friend's sister turn out to be a _Mudblood_ just threw you for another loop."

Her words seemed to ring in the cold air. Draco didn't reply, but looked straight ahead. Just as Hermione was wondering if she had crossed some invisible line, he spoke.

"Let's go to the Three Broomsticks, I could use a good butterbeer with lunch."

Sighing, Hermione followed him into the pub, and wondered what she was getting herself into this afternoon.

Several drinks later, not all of which were butterbeer, Hermione and Draco were on their way back to Hogwarts. It was dark now, and very cold. They had all four of their hands clasped together and were looking about warily. Anyone looking at them who didn't know better would assume that they were acting as if they were only five years old.

Hermione would never have had anything other than Gilly water and butterbeer on a normal occasion. This, however, was not a normal occasion. She had been out with her best friend's worst enemy... not to mention her brother's best friend.

Draco, in an effort to ease the uncomfortable silence that had grown between them, started ordering firewhiskey. At first, Hermione simply frowned in disgust. But as time went on, she threw normal thought to the wind, and ordered a few for herself. Several hours later, the conversation was much easier, but at a price.

Giggling mirthlessly, the two of them finally made it to the Hogwarts doors. Dinner had officially ended, so the halls were empty. Not even glancing in the direction of the Slytherin dungeons, Draco led Hermione towards the Gryffindor dorms. Upon reaching the portrait, Hermione mumbled a password, and the Fat Lady, one eyebrow raised, swung open. Virtually all of the Gryffindors had gone away for Christmas, the only ones that remained were a few in younger years and Hermione's friends, who were in bed by now.

Crawling rather than climbing through the portrait hole, Hermione and Draco slumped onto the couch in front of the fire. Draco let out a last laugh and then there was a peculiar silence.

"Draco," Hermione started, a grin still playing at her lips. "Why do you hate me so much?"

Squinting his eyes as if to see her better, he replied, "I don't. Not anymore at least."

"Oh. Me neither. Things are different now." Then she burst into laughter.

"What's so funny?"

"Blaise is going to _kill_ you for getting me drunk. I've never done this before. It feels... great!"

"Hey, you got yourself this way. Don't blame me." There was another silence. "Ah who am I kidding?! I'm dead!"

Then he started laughing too, and they continued until they fell asleep.

"Ahhhhh!..."

"What?! What happened?!" Hermione cried, looking frantically around from her position on the couch. She noticed two frightened looking first years standing partially hidden by a curtain on the far side of the room. Confused at first, she then noticed that the boy and girl were not looking at her, but something a little to the left. Feeling her stomach clench with nervousness, she looked at what she was laying on.

"Ahhhhh!" Hermione jumped up and tripped over some fallen shoes on the ground near the couch. She feel with a thud. "Ow." The two younger students took this opportunity to run out the portrait hole.

This thud seemed to finally awaken Draco, who had slept through all the previous noise. His hair mussed, he sleepily opened one eye, and then the other. Hermione had to say, he looked like hell. He had circles under his eyes, one of them was still black and blue, he was paler than usual, and he had some sort of light brown stain on his unbuttoned white shirt. She guessed it was a drink from last night. With this realization, all the memories from last night came flooding back to her.

"Good morning to you too Granger." He looked at her curiously for a moment. "I mean, uh... Zabini?" Then his eyes widened. "Oh... _shit_."

"Oh you've finally realized what this means! A _Slytherin_, sleeping in _Gryffindor_ Tower! You're just lucky these first years were the only ones here this morning! I can't believe this! I've never done something so irrational before, and just when I was starting to get onto good terms with Blaise... I've got to go get some breakfast, if I don't eat something soon I think I'm going to be sick... Listen, here-" She picked up his tie and shoes from the floor. "You've got to get out of here. Blaise is coming to get me for breakfast, remember?"

"Grang- Damnit! Zabini! Stop talking for once in your life," Draco said as he threw his undone tie around his neck, and rubbed his temples. "My head is going to split down the middle."

"Mine too..." She stared at him, with his messy hair and disheveled appearance. She could see his chest through his opened shirt. And she couldn't help thinking that he didn't look half bad, minus his obvious hangover and the fact that he reeked of alcohol, which was probably a result of the stain on his shirt. Then her face contorted into shock and anger. She hit him upside the head. "I cannot believe you let me drink! I've never done that in my life!... Nothing... happened last night, did it?"

"What? No!... At least, I don't think so. But you're right, I have to get out of here, those kids were probably going to breakfast, which means Blaise will be here any second."

"Right well I'll leave first and head him off," she said and brushed past him.

"Wait," he grabbed her elbow. "I can't let you leave like that."

Hermione looking down at herself. He shirt was twisted sideways, her skirt was hiked up to a ridiculously short length, and she could only imagine what her hair looked like. Suddenly embarrassed, she ran up the stairs to her dormitory. She brushed her hair and changed into a new set of clothes. When she reached the common room again, Draco was gone.

Draco hurried as fast as he could without looking suspicious. He figured that if he went fast enough and took a few secret passages, then he could bypass Blaise and at least change clothes before breakfast. Attempting to button his shirt lest he run into a teacher, he forgot to look where he was going and walked smack into someone.

"Draco!" Damn. "Where are you off to in such a hurry? I didn't even hear you get up this morning."

"I was, um... looking for you?"

"Oh." Blaise seemed to buy the answer, he looked unusually preoccupied this morning. "Well I'm going to pick up Hermione for breakfast, come on."

Draco, glancing hopefully in the direction of the dungeons, sighed and reluctantly followed his friend back to the Gryffindor dorms while listening to his friend rant about his detention the previous night. Barely listening, Draco trudged along in his wake. Suddenly, Blaise said something that caught Draco's attention.

"... And then this morning I heard some Gryffindor first years talking about a strange older year student in their dorms with a girl this morning. Isn't that interesting? I wonder who it was."

"Yeah... really weird." Draco yawned.

"Are you alright man? You look like hell."

Draco looked down at himself. His shirt was untucked from his pants, his tie was undone, and he could only imagine what his hair looked like. Not to mention the whiskey stain on his half buttoned shirt. "Oh, yeah... I, uh, had a few drinks last night."

"So it went that well with my sister then?"

"What do you mean? I didn't do anything to her!" Draco said, looking horrified. Blaise raised an eyebrow at him.

"Calm down mate, I just meant the lunch yesterday. I was being sarcastic. I didn't get a chance to talk to you about it, you must have gotten in really late. Anyways, tell me about it later, we're here." He knocked on the portrait door. Inside, there was a yelp, a stumbling, and then the door crashed open.

"Blaise! Hello, just give me a second, I have to do something with my hair, it's out of control. And my-"

"Hermione! Be quiet!" Blaise walked over to her and grabbed her arm as she looked around for her shoes. He looked her up and down, his eyes resting specifically on the dark circles beneath her eyes. "You look horrible. Were you up late last night? You look like you have a hangover..." He trailed off, chuckling at the ridiculous idea, and looked to Draco for support. He was leaning against the wall, one hand on his head with his eyes closed, and the other holding the wall for support. The tired expression on his face was identical to Hermione's. Blaise looked back to Hermione, and found her staring at the floor, hanging her head. It finally clicked.

"You got my sister _drunk_?! Are you insane?" He marched over to Draco and punched him in the face. Draco , not expecting it, went down like a bag of sand.

"Somehow, this is the second time you've hit me in a week," Draco said lazily from the floor.

"Blaise, it's not like it seems, I ordered the drinks, I shouldn't have. I've never had firewhiskey before. And then it was really late, and we must have fallen asleep-"

"Wait, wait, wait.." He turned to Draco. "You? You were the one who spent the night in Gryffindor Tower?" Blaise asked him, shaking his head. Draco slapped a hand to his forehead.

"Once again, your mouth gets you in trouble Granger."

"What the hell were you thinking? Sleeping with my sister in the Gryffindor dorms?! When I said get to know her I didn't mean like that!"

"Blaise, it's not like it seems," Hermione explained. "We just fell asleep on the couch."

"I can't believe you Draco. After everything we talked about."

"Blaise," Draco started, "It's true. We just sort of ended up here, and I guess we fell asleep because the next thing I knew it was morning and someone was yelling. Oh, the yelling..."

Blaise looked at the two of them. Even though he knew Draco had a bad reputation, he knew that Hermione would have never done something so stupid, even under the influence of alcohol. He turned to Hermione and Draco.

"I'm sorry I blew up like that. It's just, a Slytherin, sleeping in the Gryffindor dorms. I don't think it's been done before."

"Well, you know me. Always needing the attention." Draco smirked. "Now, first things first. Who were those two first years who saw us this morning?"

Author's note: I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. I don't really like how it turned out, and I kept reading it and rewriting parts. But I finally decided to just forget it about it so that I could post a new chapter. I'm having a bit of writer's block as well. I know how I want the story to end, but I am running out of ideas for things along the way. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Thanks.


	12. Falling Out

Chapter Twelve: Falling Out

For the fifth time that night, Harry wondered just what was happening with his life. He didn't even want to think about Sirius, and Hermione's new family was certainly a shock. Even though he, Ron, and Ginny pretended like it wasn't a big deal, it was. But what was the use of making Hermione even more upset over it than she already was? Harry himself still sometimes brooded over the loss of his parents, and that was years ago. Not to mention his almost constant bad mood since the Department of Mysteries incident. The fact of the matter was, Harry was concerned for Hermione. He knew she could handle anything, she wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing after all, but something bothered him about her new hobby, spending time with Blaise.

His first thought was that he was jealous, especially after Ron voiced the same thoughts to him a few days earlier. However, he brushed away those thoughts quickly. Hermione had any right to have friends other than himself and Ron and Ginny. Deep down, Harry knew what it was. Although never voicing their side, Hermione's real parents would definitely go with the dark side if they had been forced to choose. Not to mention the fact that they were close with the Mafloys, and you had to be a complete prat not to know what side the Malfoys were on.

He tore his gaze from the fire and glanced down at his watch. "Two o'clock."

Ron groaned. "Remind me again why we're waiting up for her. You know she can take care of herself."

"Because you know she's off with Blaise and Malfoy again. I don't care about Zabini so much, but Malfoy doesn't just throw away five years of arguments and hating for nothing."

"She's not going to listen to anything we have to say, she didn't even listen to Ginny, you hea-" he broke off and stared at the portrait door.

Harry's green eyes flickered towards the door immediately, and seconds later, it opened and closed, seemingly no one there. He stood up and blocked the path to the girl's dormitory.

"Hermione."

"Hey Harry," she said sheepishly, pulling of his invisibility cloak and handing it to him. The she looked towards Ron. "What are you guys still up for?"

"We need to talk," Harry said, walking towards the couch. Hermione sighed slowly, and then turned around with a smile on her face.

"About what?" She asked, as she made her way over to an armchair by the fire.

"Come on Hermione," Ron finally said. "This isn't like you. It's almost two thirty on a school night!"

"I know," she started. "But it's no big deal, really. I'm keeping my schoolwork up, and I like spending time with Blaise."

"You mean Malfoy," Ron muttered. Hermione's head snapped in his direction.

"I heard that. And yes, Malfoy too."

"Don't be thick Hermione! If you hadn't discovered you were a pureblood, he'd still be calling you those names!"

"Well, I _did_ find out I was a pureblood. And he doesn't call me that anymore. There's no sense dwelling on the past."

Harry stood up out of his chair and opened and closed his mouth quickly. His jaw tightened and his green eyes flared. "Since when did you become a Slytherin Hermione?" he asked menacingly.

"Don't be stupid, Harry. I'm still as much of a Gryffindor as you are."

"Are you really? Because last time I checked, it seemed as though you ate almost all of your meals at the Slytherin table. Not to mention the fact that you're barely in your own common room anymore. We never even see you."

Hermione rounded on Ron. "Is this what you think too? That I'm abandoning my friends?"

Ron looked startled at being put on the spot. "Well... I-"

"I can't believe this," Hermione said as she stood up. "I'm just trying to get to know my brother and my new life. Why can't you two understand that? Why can't anyone understand that?"

"Hermione, we-"

"No, Harry. I know you've been through a hard time this summer too, and I'm sorry. But I don't want to have to explain myself to you every time I want to hang out with my family."

An awkward silence fell over the trio as Hermione finished her rant. Harry was staring at her with a hard gaze, and Ron was staring at his shoes.

"I'm going to bed." Harry and Ron watched her as she stalked up the stairs to the girls dormitory.

"Well," Ron said, getting up from the couch. "That went well."

"Zabini!... Hey, Zabini!"

"What Weasley?" Ron and Harry slowed from their brisk walk as Blaise abruptly stopped moving. Some frightened first years scurried quickly past the Slytherin. He sighed and turned to face them.

"We need to talk to you," Ron stated clearly.

"As much as I'd simply _love_ to chat with you two, I really must be going. You know, class?" He turned to keep moving but Harry grabbed his arm. Blaise stopped and stared at his arm, following Harry's hand up to his face.

"Potter, I know I may seem like the quiet, silent one compared to the other Slytherins, but I will not hesitate to hex your arm off the next time you touch me."

"Listen, we don't want to talk to you either, but it's about Hermione. She's not herself lately," Harry said.

"Yeah," Ron started to explain. "She's staying up late on school nights, eating with the Slytherins, hanging out with Malfoy..." Blaise stared at them, obviously insulted that they would question her spending time with him. _As if they know anything about Draco or any of the other Slytherins..._

"I can't deal with your jealous, juvenile antics. Hermione can do whatever she likes, she's a big girl. Maybe it's time you two started treating her like one. Now if you'll excuse me," he glared at them both, "I must be going." With that, he turned on his heel and continued as if he'd been uninterrupted.

Harry sighed. "Maybe he's right, Ron. I mean, I guess we've just gotten used to her spending all of her time with us."

"I'm sure this whole thing will fade out over time. Besides, Hermione knows what she's doing, right?"

Blaise tossed and turned that night. His mind was just not allowing him to sleep. He could have sworn he had heard voices coming from the common room several times, but his conscience told him he was tired and that he was either imagining it, or dreaming it.

Giving out a frustrated groan, he rolled to the side of the bed and sat up with his feet on the floor. He sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. What was with him lately? He was always so controlled, and lately he felt as if he was losing it.

He sat like that for a long time, with his face in his hands, thinking over everything that had happened to him since the beginning of the summer. He was glad to have Hermione back in his life, he really was. But he was beginning to see why siblings argued, even after several years, and he'd only been around Hermione for a few months.

Not that they had argued lately. No, they hadn't argued for quite some time now, but although he was reluctant to say anything, he _was_ worried about Hermione. She wasn't exactly being her normal bookworm self. Her grades had not dropped, sure, but he had never imagined her to slip into the carefree lifestyle that was his own. She was only drinking, he argued with himself. But how long before she did something illegal? Blaise had been running around getting into trouble with Draco since before he could remember, and they had done their fair share of illegal activities.

On the other hand, he firmly believed in what he had told her two friends. She knew how to handle herself. Surely she wouldn't take it too far.

After sitting there awhile longer, Blaise heard something. Before he could tell himself that it was still just his imagination, he heard it again. A laughter floating up from the common room, quiet, but noticeable.

Getting up from his bed, he decided to check it out. For all he knew, it could be some foolish first years, but something told him it wasn't. Glancing back at Draco's bed, Blaise saw the hangings closed, and pondered it for a moment. _Don't be stupid_, he told himself, _he's in there, where else would he be?_

Continuing down the stairs, Blaise peeked his head around the corner and looked into the common room. When he finally focused on the scene, his mouth dropped open and his strong belief that Hermione could handle her own cracked.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing down here?!"

"Blaise!" Hermione squealed, looking up from the couch where she sat with Draco. On the table beside her, several small bottles of firewhiskey sat empty. Unbelievingly, Blaise looked over at Draco, who was staring at him with a goofy grin on his face.

"Hermione, get up, you're coming with me."

"Hey! She can... leave!- whenever she wants to!" Draco shouted.

"Hermione, come on." His blue eyes blazed. He grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the door. "And you," he turned to Draco. "I'll deal with you when I get back. Stay here."

He pulled Hermione out into the corridor and began walking out of the dungeons. They were nowhere near invincible, but Blaise was sure that if he took a few secret passages they could make it to Gryffindor unseen.

"Blaise." Hermione said, sobered up by his outburst. "Blaise stop right now."

When he kept walking, she wrenched her arm out of his grasp and pulled him into a dark corridor.

"Blaise, what the hell is wrong with you?" He sighed and ran a hand through his messy hair.

"You can't keep doing this, it's not you."

"Who are _you_ to tell me what is or isn't me? Besides, you had no problem with it before."

"I know, but that was when I was there. You don't understand Draco, Hermione." He turned to look directly at her. "He may be completely friendly and not at all mean anymore, but he's still a Malfoy. Don't get me wrong, he's my best mate and all, but Draco will always be dangerous, and you don't know that side of him. I don't want you to."

Hermione stood staring at him, searching for his sincerity and finding it in his deep blue eyes. "Fine, if that's what you want."

And with that she brushed past him and headed for Gryffindor, not even looking back.

The next week progressed slowly. Hermione, Harry, and Ron were on better terms now that she had fallen back into her regular schedule. She was happy to be spending time with them again, but a small part of her missed Blaise, and even another part missed Draco.

She spent the week hanging out in Gryffindor Tower, doing homework, or sitting by the fire while Harry and Ron played chess. She only ventured out for meals or classes, and she studiously ignored the two Slytherins.

Despite her attempts to ignore them, it was nearly impossible not to see them in the halls or in class. One Friday, having realized she was late for lunch, Hermione was hurriedly walking from the library when she heard two voices around the corner. Two very familiar voices. They were still far away, and she slowed down to catch some of their conversation.

"...you'll be killed!" Hermione's eyes widened. _Killed?_

"Look Blaise, there's no way I can get out of it."

"Surely Dumbledore-"

"No, I don't need his help. Or Snape's, I know you were thinking him next. I can handle it on my own."

What could they possibly be talking about?

During a long pause in which Hermione was sure they were simply glaring at each other, she decided she had to move. It was either go back to the common room, or stay and get caught eavesdropping. She really couldn't go past them to the Great Hall. But as she stood there, quickly deciding, her stomach rumbled and made her decision for her.

Stepping out from around the corner, Hermione saw Draco leaning against the wall with his head down, and Blaise was staring at the floor. Hearing her footfalls, they both glanced up. Her eyes connected with Blaise's sharp blue eyes, and then for a split second longer with Draco's steel grey ones.

"Blaise. Draco." She said coolly as she walked past them to the Great Hall. Blaise's eyes flashed with frustration. She had been avoiding them all week, and now that's all she had to say? Before he could call her back, Draco dropped his gaze from her retreating form and started walking in the opposite direction. Taking one last look at her, Blaise followed Draco in the opposite direction, promising himself that he would talk to her later.

Author's Note: As usual, sorry for the delay. But I'm pretty sure I have everything I want to happen outlined now, so it should be easier to update. Hope you liked this chapter, and don't forget to review!


	13. Understanding

Chapter Thirteen: Understanding

A few days later, Hermione made her way down to the Great Hall with Harry and Ron. Things were getting back to normal, or as normal as they could be at Hogwarts anyway. Hermione still received odd looks, and she still couldn't resist being surprised when she looked in the mirror and saw her reflection. She was getting on with it though.

She spoke to Blaise when necessary, in passing, or just so that her parents wouldn't suspect that she knew nothing about what was going on with him in her letters. It was hard, but she was quickly pushing her relationship with Blaise out of her mind, and focusing on enjoying the year.

Ron pushed open the door, and made a beeline for the table to start in on breakfast. Harry swept past her to join him, and Hermione, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, threw her usual glance at the Slytherin table, where she knew Blaise and Malfoy would be sitting. They were always up before her, or at least up before Ron and Harry, as she waited for them in the morning. Hermione had taken to glancing over just to see if they were at all upset about her absence. Usually, it was impossible to tell, because they sat with their backs to Gryffindor. Scanning the long rows of students, she came to a stop where she knew they would be.

Only, they weren't. Temporarily frowning, Hermione followed Harry over to the table and began to ponder where they could be. Surely they weren't in trouble? They had to be in the castle. After several minutes, she decided she could not sit and think about it anymore, and she needed to find out where her brother and his friend were, if only to ease her mind. She mumbled an excuse to her friends about wanting to get an early start on her homework and got up to exit the Hall.

After checking the Hospital wing and the grounds, but not daring to venture into Slytherin, she decided it wouldn't be such a bad idea to get some work done, and made her way to the Library. She bade Madame Pince a quick hello and then went to her own table in the back, where she could work quietly, but there was someone already sitting at it.

Looking tired and worn-out, Blaise was merely staring into space. He didn't even budge when Hermione arrived.

"Blaise." His eyes slowly moved over to her, and then he sighed and ran a hand over his face. Leaning his chair back onto two legs, he just stared her in the eyes for a few seconds.

"Hermione." There was a long silence. Seconds turned into minutes, and finally Hermione had had enough of it. Was this all he had to say after all this time?

"Is that all you have to say for yourself?"

"What?" His brow furrowed and his chair fell back onto all fours.

Hermione's bright blue eyes blazed. "After all this time! You don't even seem upset that we don't talk anymore. I'm your _sister_ Blaise, and I thought you were beginning to see it too."

"Listen, I-"

"No you listen!-" But she must have unintentionally raised her voice in her anger, because at that moment Madame Pince came hurrying over, and quickly but surely kicked them out of the library. Once out in the hall, Hermione continued her rant.

"You can't even make an effort, and all because of that one night! I knew things would be different, but I didn't know you planned to cut me out of your life again!"

"Stop it! Damn it Hermione! I'm not trying to cut you out of my life, but bigger things have been going on!" Hermione stopped, panting, and searched his eyes for lies, but found none.

"What do you mean?" Making a quick decision, Blaise grabbed her arm and pulled her down the hall and into an empty classroom.

"Blaise what the hell is this all about?"

"Oh come on Hermione, don't tell me you haven't noticed who was missing this morning." She gave him an insulted look, and then realization dawned on her. Who had she been looking for only moments before? It hadn't only been Blaise missing.

"Draco? But where is he?"

"He's in trouble. I tried to convince him not to go, but he wouldn't or couldn't listen to me."

"So that's what you two were talking about last week."

Blaise gave her a small, forced smile. "I knew you'd been eavesdropping."

Momentarily forgetting the situation to blush, she then remembered what was going on. "So, where did he go?"

"Sorry, I can't really tell you, I promised not to tell anyone, not that I would anyway. Maybe he'll tell you... when he gets back."

Sensing that he wasn't going to reveal any more, Hermione steered the situation away from Draco. "I've missed hanging out with you."

Blaise smiled. "I've missed hanging out with you too. I'm sorry you thought I'd abandoned you."

"Don't worry about it... Anyway, classes will be starting soon, they'll be wondering where I am."

"Right, see you later then."

"Yeah, see you later." Hermione turned and opened the door before turning around again. "And you know, if you need anyone to talk to, I'm here."

"Thanks." She gave him one last reassuring smile before walking out the door.

It wasn't until about three days later that anyone heard or saw any of Draco Malfoy. Blaise had sent him letters of course, but his owl came back empty handed each time. One evening after class, Hermione had joined Blaise in the Slytherin common room to talk and work on homework. Slytherins tended to keep to themselves, so being overheard was not as likely.

Hermione sighed and rubbed her eyes wearily before glancing up at Blaise, who was dozing with his Transfiguration book open in his lap. Glancing at her watch, she realized it was rather late. Deciding not to bother her sleeping brother, she closed her book with a soft snap, and was busy putting it into her satchel when the door to the common room opened.

Hermione's breath hitched in her throat and she looked up to see who was entering the common room so late. She was fairly sure she knew who it was, somehow, but she was still slightly surprised.

He looked bad. He was pale, well more pale than usual, and looked as though he had just trekked a thousand miles while being chased by Blast-Ended Skrewts. The rings around his eyes were prominent, and he didn't even seem to take any notice of either her or Blaise as he slowly made his way to the boys dormitory stairs.

Hermione quickly nudged Blaise, who immediately awoke, and then got up to approach Draco. Just as she was about to take her first step, Blaise grabbed her wrist. She turned around, but Blaise was looking at Draco, who had only just noticed them. He was wide-eyed and his blue eyes were blazing in his best friends direction. Draco on the other hand, was only looking at Hermione with a pained expression on his face. Unwavering in his gaze, he watched as Hermione shrugged Blaise off and approached him.

"Draco," she said, and moved to grab his hand. At this moment though, he snatched his hand away as though burned. Sneering at them both in turn, he turned and ascended the steps.

Just as she had decided to go after him, Blaise finally spoke. "Hermione, let me go."

"But-" she started.

"I know," he cut her off. "But I think I need to talk to him before you do. As someone who knows... what he is going through." He looked at her finally, willing her to understand.

With an icy edge to her voice that she wasn't even aware she was capable of she snapped a quick "Fine," and exited the common room.

The next morning, Hermione awoke earlier than usual, anxious for the day. She dressed quickly, and hurried down to the Great Hall without waiting for Harry and Ron. When she arrived, she expected to see them both, sitting at the Slytherin table, eating, or even throwing insults at passerby, but the last thing she expected was for them both to be missing. Again.

Before she could even turn towards the Slytherin dungeons, however, Harry and Ron came hurrying into the Hall with question after question about their Charms homework. Glancing behind her, she headed towards the Gryffindor table to help her friends.

The rest of the day was strangely busy, preventing her from looking for her brother and Draco. This did not mean that she was kept from thinking about them, or more specifically, Draco. What could possibly have happened to make him so upset? Had it something to do with the conversation she had overheard? Could someone have died?

It didn't help that neither one of them had been present in any of the Slytherin/Gryffindor classes she had that day. And annoyingly enough, her day continued to be busy, with patrol for her prefect duties, and seemingly everything else that could keep her away from Draco.

As patrol finally ended, Hermione checked her watch. It was well past curfew now. Deciding it was worth the risk, and that she could just blame it on a suspicious noise, Hermione doubled back towards the Slytherin common room. Whispering the password, she stepped inside, and was about to ascend the staircase leading to the boys' rooms, when she noticed someone sitting by a nearly extinguished fire. It was Draco.

Sitting on a footstool near the fire, Hermione could only see one side of his face. He was dimly outlined by the glowing embers in the fireplace. His elbows rested on his knees, and his head was hanging between hunched shoulders.

"Draco?" she whispered. His head slowly turned in her direction, and if she didn't know better, she'd say he'd been crying. But that wasn't possible, Draco didn't cry.

"Draco, what's wrong? I wanted to speak with you yesterday, but Blaise said-"

"I'm sorry," he whispered, staring into her brown eyes.

She cracked a small smile. "What are you sorry for? Is it because of what happened with Blaise before you left? Because it's okay..." She trailed off at the look in his eyes.

He smiled, but the humor did not reach his eyes. "It's not because of that. I-" He broke off, and his gaze settled on a point behind her.

Deciding not to push him, Hermione took one small step towards him and waited. It felt like hours, but it had probably only been a few minutes.

After drawing a ragged breath, Draco twisted in his seat to face her. Slowly, he rolled up the sleeve of his shirt to reveal something hidden beneath.

It was the Dark Mark.

Hermione drew a sharp intake of breath, and backed up until her legs hit the couch behind her and she fell onto it. Her dark hair fell into her eyes, but she didn't bother to swipe it away.

The silence that fell was so momentous that Draco felt as though it was an actual presence, suffocating him from all sides.

"I- I tried, Hermione. But I didn't try hard enough."

Hermione's eyes began to swell with tears at the horrible twist in things. How could he?

"H- h- how...?"

"You need to know," he said, gaining control of his voice, even as a tear fell down his pale face. He fell out of the chair and kneeled in front of her. "That I didn't want this. God, I didn't want it. And for some reason, I don't even know why, all that matters is that _you_ believe me, right now."

When she didn't respond, he took one of her hands and squeezed it. But as she stared into his sleet grey eyes, she couldn't speak. For the first time in her life, she was truly at a loss for words.

As if resigning himself to this fate, Draco looked down, and nodded to himself. Slowly and painfully getting to his feet, he made to walk up the stairs. And just when his first foot was on the stair, he heard it.

"I believe you."


	14. Happy

Chapter Fourteen: Happy

It was Friday, several days after Draco had returned to Hogwarts. He had had a rough few days, put through more emotions than he had ever felt in his entire life, and that was saying something, seeing as how Malfoys never, ever showed their true emotions. Or at least they weren't supposed to. Draco wouldn't know. His Father always did find time to remind him of his faults.

Despite all of this, he had never felt better. He was feeling like he could walk right up to a hippogriff at this point. Of course, he knew this would be very foolish (he was still a little edgy when it came to magical creatures).

Classes had just ended, and Draco had a few hours until dinner. He decided to visit the library and see if Hermione was there.

Hermione.

Why _did_ he want to see her anyway? Why had he even told her about the Mark? He had done it on impulse, and immediately mentally kicked himself for doing so. She had spent the next day and a half incessantly bothering him to go to Dumbledore, and the next two days telling him what he should say and how he should say it.

At first, going to Dumbledore seemed like a very stupid idea to Draco. He was a Death Eater now. He had a horrible mark on his arm to prove it, not to mention several family members who were also Death Eaters. Surely Dumbledore wasn't trusting enough to let him stay in the school?

But he had been. He had told Draco that everything would be worked out later, and that for now all he had to do was focus on his studies. This was confusing to him. Surely he had to do _something_? But Dumbledore, the old fool, didn't even seem to be surprised, about any of it. He had simply reassured Draco that he had done the right thing, and was in good hands, before dismissing him.

Once outside, he had met Hermione, who was bouncing on the balls of her feet, waiting for him to return. He was honestly glad now that she had forced him to see the Headmaster. He felt better than he ever had, as if a huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders.

He tried very hard to understand why he trusted Hermione so much. There was really no explanation for it. He knew that there was a real reason, buried deep down, but he was stubborn, and refused to see it.

Blaise was, as a good friend should be, extremely supportive. Although the Zabinis had never shown any sort of affiliation with the War, Draco knew that they did not agree with the harsh actions of Voldemort and his followers. He suspected they wanted to avoid the wrath of one side or the other. Draco admired that, and wished his own family had chosen that path.

He was still a prejudiced bastard, that much was true. There are some things that partially stick to you forever, and sixteen years of pureblood supremacy did not just wash away when your best friend's sister turned out to be a former Muggleborn.

Chuckling quietly, Draco realized that Hermione had worked herself into his brain these past few months. Muggleborn, _honestly_, what had gotten into him?

Approaching the back of the library, Draco saw the object of his thoughts at a table in the corner, surrounded by books. One was flipped open in front of her, and her nose was buried within its pages. He smiled, a real smile, not a smirk. Unfortunately, this seemed to frighten a few nearby first years, and they ran quickly towards a more populated area of the library. Draco frowned at their retreating figures.

A quiet laugh interrupted his thoughts, and he looked around to see that Hermione had abandoned her book in order to observe him.

"What?" he asked.

"You." She sniggered.

"Me?" he questioned again.

"I'm afraid those younger students are not accustomed to seeing you smile, you seem to have frightened them off." She continued to laugh to herself. He threw himself unceremoniously into the chair opposite her.

"It's not my fault," he pouted.

"I suppose it's just something you'll have to work on."

"Well, don't get too used to it. The day I start smiling at everyone is the day Potter and I join forces."

"You're halfway there." There was a silence following this last comment. Draco had never said he wanted to join the Order or anything of that sort. He just knew he didn't want to be a Death Eater.

"So," she started. "How do you- feel, about everything?"

He considered her for a moment. "Good, actually. Hermione, I-" He faltered. Now here was something he was definitely not used to.

She looked at him, brows furrowed, trying to understand what he wanted to say.

"I-" There was nothing else for it. "T-thank you."

Hermione's face split into a huge grin. She jumped up out of her chair, and ran over to his side of the table. Before he knew what she was doing, she had hugged him. Well, that was nice.

After a few moments, she seemed to realize what she was doing and backed up quickly. She straightened herself out and then looked up at him.

"You're welcome." And then she smiled again, and Draco knew right then, that he could walk into a pack of hippogriffs, if only he could see that smile one more time.

Hermione's newfound friendship in Draco was more than she could have asked for. Things were back to the way they were before he had left. There was hardly a moment outside of class that she didn't spend with Blaise and Draco, or just Draco.

Naturally, Ron and Harry weren't too happy about this, but they could see that Hermione was happy, and if anyone deserved to be happy right now, it was her.

Hermione hadn't told anyone about the Dark Mark, not even Ginny. She knew that Harry would go ballistic, and Ron would be uncontrollable, and that was the last thing she wanted. She wanted to keep the peace for as long as possible.

Deep down though, Hermione knew that the peaceful last few days would not stay that way. One did not just go about becoming friendly with one's enemies without problems arising, even if said enemies were your twin brother and his best friend.

"Hey Hermione."

Harry glanced up at her and smiled as she plopped down on an armchair across from Harry in the Gryffindor common room.

"Hi Harry, Ron. What are you guys up to?" She looked from one to the other with a smile on her face. Harry opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by another voice issuing from behind her.

"Oh you know, the usual. Not doing homework, making plans to cause trouble."

Hermione smiled. "Hey Ginny."

"You haven't been here in a long time, what's up?"

"Just wanted to spend an evening with some of my favorite Gryffindors," she replied with a grin.

Ron interrupted the comfortable silence that followed by asking Harry whether he would like to play chess, and the two became absorbed in the game that ensued.

"So Hermione… You look happy."

"Of course I am Ginny, I'm hanging out with you guys."

Ginny made a sound of exasperation. "You know what I mean. Just lately. You've been… better."

Hermione nodded, becoming suddenly serious. "I am feeling better about… you know, everything. The summer, the beginning of the term…"

"I'm glad." She stopped for a second. "Is there something, or perhaps, _someone_, who is keeping you so happy?"

Hermione stared at her. She hesitated for a moment and then replied, "I have no idea what you are talking about."

Ginny smiled. Although Hermione had not said anything really at all, she got the impression that she had said exactly what Ginny expected, or wanted, to hear.

And actually, Hermione knew exactly what she was talking about.

Draco Malfoy. The latest and most important interest in her life. He was keeping her happy, now that she thought about it. Of course, there was Blaise too, she loved having family around her at school, but Draco was different. She wasn't sure how, or why, he just was.

There were hardly any moments that she spent with Draco alone, without Blaise, but even during those times her and Draco seemed to get along better than ever. There was just something about him that kept a smile on her face. Even if they had just spent the last ten minutes or so bickering, she could still walk away in a generally good mood. It was as if their banter was superficial now.

Before Draco had left school, they had hung out a few times on their own, and had had some of the most fun ever. Now that he was back, and after the whole business with the Mark, they were closer than ever. They often stayed up long after Blaise had gone to bed just talking.

"Hello?!" Fingers snapped in front of her face, and Ron came into focus.

"Oh, sorry. Just thinking."

Ron looked at her for a moment as if she had just denounced elf rights. "You've been staring into space for almost half an hour. Anyway, Harry and I are going to bed."

"Alright, I'm just going to stick around for a little, Blaise and Draco are going to stop by for a little bit. Good night."

No sooner had Harry's feet disappeared from view than a knock was heard from the portrait entrance. Hermione got up and pushed it open. Smirking at her from the hall was Draco, but her brother was nowhere in sight.

She furrowed her eyebrows. "Where's Blaise?"

"Well, hello to you too."

"Sorry, I just haven't seen him in awhile."

"Yes well, he could stop getting himself detentions for nothing you know. Aren't you going to ask me in?"

She stepped aside and he followed her to the fireplace. He seated himself on the couch that Harry and Ron had recently vacated. They sat in silence for awhile, Hermione reveling in the comfortable feeling that she had when she was around Draco. Eventually she looked over at him. His white blond hair was falling into his eyes, and he had a stern look on his face.

"What's up?" She asked. "You look… worried."

"I'm not."

"Oh."

More silence. More time for thinking. This comfortable feeling when she was around him; the long talks, the way he made her smile… Merlin, did she fancy Draco Malfoy?

Suddenly he spoke up. "Actually, and it's all thanks to you really, for the first time in a long time, I'm not worried. I'm happier than I have been in months."

"I couldn't agree more."


	15. Just When Things Started to Get Good

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter Fifteen: Just When Things Started to Get Good

Something was weird. And not in a good way. Something was weird in a very, very wrong way.

It had been two days since Hermione's conversation with Draco in the Gryffindor common room. Three days and nothing. No show, no owl, no message... nothing. Hermione considered herself a patient person, but this was driving her insane. After their conversation the other day, how could he just not talk to her? And more importantly, why didn't he want to? Didn't he mean what he had said, that he was happy spending time with her?

_Maybe, maybe he doesn't actually feel the same way I do… _a voice shouted_. Maybe he just said those things because I said them._

One thing was for sure, Hermione Granger was not one to take things quietly. She loved having the answers, and she was going to find them, one way or another.

"Draco Malfoy!"

_Oh Shit._

Gathering up his courage, Draco looked over his shoulder from where he was talking with Crabbe and Goyle. Well talking _with_ was a bit of an overstatement. He was talking _to_ them. To be quite honest, he wasn't quite sure if they were even listening, but they had always been his backup when Blaise wasn't available, and Blaise was definitely not an option right now, especially not when his twin sister was currently shouting his name with venom down the corridor.

"Draco Malfoy."

Hermione Granger had finally arrived in front of him, and now she was glaring up at him with her arms crossed and her foot tapping impatiently. It was incessant really. He stared down his nose at her and tried to gauge her anger and read her expression, but hell if she wasn't the only one he couldn't understand. And what bothered him even more was that _she_ could read _him_, although nobody else could.

When she gave another loud huff, he closed his eyes and sighed. He turned towards Crabbe and Goyle and nodded his head, which after many years of teaching, they understood to mean, _You__ are dismissed._ They gave one blank look at the two of them, and they wandered off in the opposite direction from which she came.

"Draco?" He heard his name being called again and realized he'd been staring after Crabbe and Goyle, bracing himself for the following conversation.

"Yeah?" He turned and looked at her.

Her bright blue eyes blazed. "Yeah? _Yeah?_ That's all you have to say for yourself?"

Blue met grey. "I'm not sure what you're talking about."

"Don't insult my intelligence Draco."

"Fine." He hoisted his bag further up onto his shoulder and started walking down the hall, she fell into step beside him. "Please enlighten me." A group of passing Slytherins hailed him and glared at her, Draco lazily raised a hand in recognition.

"Okay. Let's start with how we were just speaking only days ago, and now suddenly you're not speaking to me."

"We're speaking right now." He raised an eyebrow at her.

She uncrossed her arms. "You know what I mean." They stopped walking. "You just said how you actually liked spending time with me, and now you're avoiding me, how does that make sense?"

"I'm not avoiding you." Now it was her turn to raise an eyebrow.

"Oh really?"

"Really."

"Why can't you just tell me why you're no longer speaking to me? I thought we were friends."

"I don't want to talk about it. Drop it."

She stared at him as if seeing him for the first time and she took a tiny step backwards. Draco thought for a moment that she might cry, but then she spoke. "You know what? I thought you had changed. I was wrong."

And as she crossed her arms and walked away, Draco rather felt that it would have been better if she had cried, and he hated seeing people cry.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

"What?!" Several nearby students gave jumps of surprise.

"I didn't say anything."

"Blaise, I could feel the holes you were burning through the top of my skull. I'm trying to read here."

Blaise grinned at his sister. "Sorry." He ducked his head back down, pretending to be absorbed in his Charms text. He knew it was three, maybe four seconds, before she totally lost concentration in whatever she was doing.

Moments later, he heard the snap of her book being closed, and he looked up, finished counting down in his head. Her head was in her hands, and she was rubbing her eyes. When she finally looked up at him, he was staring at her curiously.

"Seriously, what is it?"

He smiled again. "Hermione, I was merely wondering if you have caught whatever bug it is that has made Draco so miserable this past week."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Matching blue eyes locked in a staring contest. Suddenly Hermione made to leave, she got up out of her chair and grabbed her bag in one swift motion, walking past Blaise's chair. He reached out and grabbed her arm.

"Sit. Let's talk." He let go of her, but she could tell that he was silently daring her to try and get away again.

"Fine," she conceded. She sat back down. "What is it?"

"Draco has been brooding for days, and don't think I haven't noticed you acting differently. Not to mention you usually spend time with Draco every day, with or without me, and yet I haven't seen you together during this whole time." He held his hand to his chin in mock thought. "It doesn't take a genius to figure out that something happened between the two of you."

Maybe it was the Slytherin blood in her, or maybe she was just feeling particularly vindictive, but she felt some sort of odd satisfaction in the knowing that he was upset.

"Good for him. Can I go now?"

The smirk slipped off of her brother's face. "Geez, what the hell happened? Listen, I'm not joking when I say that he's upset. I'm talking more upset than when…" he lowered his voice, "… than when he got the Mark."

Hermione tried not to be affected by what he said, but she knew it was useless. Regardless of the fact that he had done something stupid, she had said those things to Draco, and they weren't exactly nice.

"I have to go." She got up for the second time.

"Wait for a moment… I know you remember that I told you to stay away from Draco, that he's dangerous. And I still agree with that earlier statement, but I've gotten over it because I know you're a big girl and that you can take care of yourself." She turned her head sideways to meet his eyes. "But just because I'm okay with that doesn't mean I'm okay with everything, I'm new to this big brother thing."

"Blaise, I'm fine. Really." She smiled to reassure him, and started walking away again when she heard his quiet voice.

"I don't know what's going on with you two, but don't drive each other insane."

"Blaise, nothing is going on. I'll see you later." And she meant it, despite what he had just told her, she wasn't going to go running back to whatever it was that they had had. If Draco wanted to apologize, then he had every opportunity to do so.

He should do it. No. He shouldn't. Yes. No…

_It can't really be all th__at__ hard_ he thought. _Apologize. That's all you have to do. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. There that wasn't that hard._

"Clearly it is that hard if you need to practice saying two words to yourself in your dorm room. And yes, you were thinking out loud again." Blaise stalked into the room and threw his cloak over the back of his chair. "Tell me, who is it that you're apologizing to?"

"I…" Draco scowled. "Mind your own business Blaise."

"Ahh… so it _is_ my sister. Interesting. What have you done now?"

Giving in to the fact that Blaise would get the information one way or another, he decided to enlighten him a bit. Besides, it couldn't hurt to have a little bit of help with the situation.

"I was an idiot."

"Care to elaborate?"

"No actually. I was an ass. End of story."

"Okay…" Blaise's gaze shifted downwards and then back up to Draco. "You know, I've known you as long as I can remember."

"I know, I was there too."

"Well then, I'm sure you remember that there are things… things from your past, either that we've done together, or that you've done on your own… Things that are dangerous and that Hermione has probably never even considered before. You need to be careful with her. She didn't grow up the same as us."

"Is that your attempt at brotherly protection or something?"

"I'm serious Drake."

"I know… It's just, she's different you know? And I never got the chance to see her before, like really see her. And now that I have, I keep messing it up. I don't know how to be around her. One second I'm perfectly fine with her as Hermione Zabini, your sister, and the next she's Hermione Granger again, Potter's friend and the girl I've grown up hating. I'm trying."

There was a pause. Draco rubbed his face with his hand, but Blaise merely stared at him.

"You like her."

Draco paused with his hand on his chin, he drew it back and combed it through his white blond hair. "I…" He sighed. "Yeah, I guess I do."

Hermione Zabini was a hard girl to get a hold of. When she didn't want to be spoken to, it was pretty damn near impossible to do so. Especially with Potter and Weasley blocking his attempts at every turn.

Even so, Draco found the perfect time to do it. He was going to corner her and he was going to apologize, and she was going to forgive him… Right?

He just had to wait for this damn Arithmancy class to get out. Actually, it was his Arithmancy class too, but he needed more time to practice, so Blaise decided to cover for him and tell Professor Vector that he was ill.

The Bell. Finally. Okay, she'll be the last one out, she likes to ask questions. He saw Blaise leave and silently thanked God for giving him a good friend. One that didn't gut you if you messed things up with his sister. As Weasley would have done.

There she was, scanning her latest homework assignment with vigor. What was she even doing that for? He could see from where he was standing that she had gotten perfect marks.

Just as she passed by the door to an empty classroom, he shoved her into it and closed the door.

"I'm sorry." Well, that was weird. Definitely not the way he meant it, and definitely not the right moment. He opened his eyes (when had he closed them?) and noticed something odd. This was definitely not a classroom. It was a broom cupboard. It was small, and the two of them were scrunched up next to each other. This was totally not going to plan.

"Draco? Is that you?"

"Yeah it's me. _Lumos_." The two of them blinked in the dazzling light. "Listen, while I've got you here, there's something I need to say properly."

She stared at him. This was it, this was the moment to say it. "Shit… Um, I'm sorry."

Her lips quirked upwards. "What? Did I say it wrong?"

She put a hand on his shoulder and tried to restrain a smile. "No, you said it fine. And I accept." A sigh of relief. "It's just, you clearly don't do this too often."

"No, I don't actually. I just- seriously though, you're okay?"

She nodded "Gryffindors are sometimes too trustworthy for their own good." She smiled but then she opened her mouth to speak. "Draco-"

"No wait. Listen. I know I've been an arrogant jerk. This is all just so new to me. I'm struggling between you and the Hermione I used to know."

She grabbed his hand. "It's new to me too, but I like spending time with you."

"And you need to know… I knew exactly what you were talking about the other day. And I was only acting that way because I like you, and I didn't know how to act around you."

She smiled. "I like you too."

"You do?" He looked surprised.

"Yeah… This is so bizarre. Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy. Who would have thought?"

He considered that for a second. "No, Draco Malfoy and Hermione _Zabini_."

"You know what?"

"What?" He asked, searching her eyes in the dim light.

"You're absolutely right." With that she stood up on tip toe and brushed a feather light kiss to his lips. When she pulled away, he looked dazed for a moment, before he bent down and kissed her again.

When he finally pulled away, he said, "Come on, Blaise is out in the hallway and I bet this will be good."

"Good for whom?" But she followed him out anyway, and when they had adjusted to the light, they could see Blaise waiting outside of the empty classroom across the hall that they should have been in. When he saw them, he looked from their door to his and his eyes widened in recognition of the broom cupboard they had just been in. He looked from Draco, to their still clasped hands, to the broom closet, and his eyes narrowed at his best friend.

"Draco Malfoy!"

"See, like brother like sister… I told you it would be funny."

Author's Note: Sorry for the long update, one, maybe two chapters left, and I've got it all planned out. Review please!


	16. Happy Endings

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter Sixteen: Happy Ending

The following few weeks were complete bliss for Hermione and Draco, and although they spent nearly every waking moment together outside of class, their public image wasn't that great. The two preferred to spend time alone together, away from the prying eyes that followed a Malfoy and a Zabini.

Harry and Ron had virtually no choice but to accept it, and were attempting to be on their best behavior in the presence of Malfoy, as per the request of Hermione.

As usual, weeknights found Hermione and Draco in the library studying together, as that was the only way Draco found he could spend time with her without her complaining about failed NEWTS and exams.

"Draco!"

He looked around, pretending to be surprised. "What?"

"Don't think I don't know what you're doing. Your best friend does it too. How do you expect me to study when you're staring at me like that?"

He smirked. "Like what?"

"You are…" Hermione trailed off, looking all bothered with her hair wild and a smudge of ink on her cheek. Draco reached over and wiped the ink from her face with his thumb.

"And _you_, are adorable when you're angry." Reluctantly, her cheeks darkened into a blush and she smiled at him, completely forgetting about her studying.

Across the library, a group of Slytherins sat watching the pair. One of them sneered and broke into speech. "Will you look at them? It's simply disgusting!"

"I know," another replied, "What is he doing?"

"Well, she is a pureblood now," one of the girls in the small group reminded them.

"Forget about it! Just because she's a pureblood doesn't mean he should be acting like some lovesick puppy! And she's best friends with Potter for damned sake!"

"He's a Malfoy, he's making the rest of us Slytherins look ridiculous, someone has got to talk to him."

Unbeknownst to them, a pair of bright blue eyes were watching and listening from behind a bookcase.

He watched them as they followed Draco down the hall, to where everyone knew he would intercept Hermione on her way back from Gryffindor tower. He walked slowly behind them, and just as they rounded a corner, he picked up his pace and stepped out in front of them, blocking their way to Draco.

"Hello, boys."

Only one of the three Slytherins looked like they had enough guts to speak up. "Blaise! What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question." He glanced up the hallway, and the four Slytherins watched as the class drifted out, and Draco slung his arm around Hermione's shoulders on the way to dinner.

"Now, I know you don't want to suffer _my_ wrath, let alone Draco's. Obviously you didn't think through his reaction very well. Although I must admit, confronting him outside of the Slytherin common room was a wise idea."

The same guy spoke up again, this time looking more nervous. "Well, _someone_, has to talk some sense into him."

"I'm going to pretend that comment was not directed at me, Addins. Why don't we save the whole Mudblood, Pureblood debate for another time? That's my sister, and Draco's girlfriend. Get over it, and if I see any one of you or any other Slytherin trying to interfere in their lives again, you will be sorry."

Feeling satisfied that he had left them sufficiently scared; he turned away and followed his sister and his friend down to dinner.

"Hermione, love, what's wrong?" Draco asked her, frowning at her worried expression. They were seated by the lake after dinner one evening, watching the giant squid skimming the water every now and then.

"It's… nothing," she looked away from him. He brushed his fingers along her chin and gently pulled her face back to his.

"It's something alright. You don't get any better at lying." She smiled a little bit, but still looked troubled.

"I guess it just seems like we can't really be together."

"If you think I'm ashamed-" She stopped him with a finger to his lips.

"It's not that," she sighed. "I just want things to be normal. I'm tired of everyone staring and judging. I certainly don't care what they think, but I want to be with you without it being a Malfoy and Harry Potter's friend. We've overcome so much, and I know we have our troubles ahead of us," she glanced down at his arm and he grimaced. "I want to be Draco and Hermione, only that, while we still can be."

He stared down at her, understanding completely. Not knowing what else he could add or what to say, since he felt the same problems himself, he simply leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, offering comfort the only way he knew how.

Her head felt like it was still spinning as Blaise whirled her to a stop outside of the Great Hall. He had just dragged her along through the hallways on alternate routes that ended up taking twice as long to get down to breakfast. She would be lucky if it wasn't over by now.

"Blaise Zabini! What is this all about?"

"Yes Zabini, what exactly are you doing?" Draco asked, joining his girlfriend as he ascended the stairs from the dungeons. Hermione could tell he looked a little tired, like he had been up late and then overslept. In fact he had been up all night, voicing his complaints to Blaise about his and Hermione's relationship. Blaise on the other hand, had a huge grin on his face.

He grabbed their hands and dragged them both into breakfast, where the rest of the school and staff were still seated. He whistled to gain their attention, and stood up on the end of the Ravenclaw table.

"I know all of you know who these two people are," he gestured to Hermione and Draco still standing in the entranceway and staring in shock at Blaise.

"Blaise, don't!" Hermione pleaded. He just looked at her and smiled.

"What you don't know is that they have come a long way to be together. We're in the middle of a war people, why should that stop us from being with the people we love?"

"Because Slytherins and Gryffindors don't mix!" someone yelled.

Blaise just nodded his head. "That probably used to be true, but it's not anymore. If that were true, then Parkinson wouldn't have a crush on Weasley," there were huge gasps following this statement. "If houses couldn't mix, then how could Brown like Addins, or Macmillan like Lovegood? Luckily for all of you, I'm extremely observant. There's nothing holding you back from being happy except for your own prejudices. Houses are where you sleep, but they shouldn't be where you live. Grow up." With that he jumped down from the table, grabbed Padma Patil, and kissed her right there in front of the whole school.

Hermione didn't know if the two were dating, or if Blaise was just making another point, because at that moment, all she could see was Draco. And she could see, that she was all he could see too. Now she had her family, and her friends, and for the first time since the beginning of the year, all eyes were not on her. Draco pulled her to him and kissed her, just like they were alone together. Just like it would always be from that point forward. They were finally just Hermione and Draco, together.

_Fin._

Author's Note: I know it was short, but I'm a sucker for happy endings, and I couldn't wait to finish it. Thanks for reviewing!


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